Kicking Against the Goad
by PimpedOutGreenEars
Summary: High School AU. Kurapika and Leorio like each other but refuse to admit it. Instead they've spent the last year trying to get the other to confess. When Kurapika threatens asking out the new guy, Gon, Leorio tries to bribe Killua for help. Killua has no interest in seducing the new guy. At least he didn't until he met him. Gon being a merciless flirt doesn't help. Killugon&Leopika
1. Chapter 1

**Kicking Against the Goad**

 **Author's Note: So I started writing this fic in January, thinking my first go into a fandom would be a 5k oneshot, and then it totally got away from me so I entered it into the hxh big bang on tumblr. On the plus side this fic is completely finished and I'm just posting it as I do more editing. There's about 31k words, and chapters are gonna vary in size. Also the killugon content is way heavier than the leopika stuff, just so you know in case you came just for that.**

 **Also, fun fact, originally my side pairing was Ikalgo and Palm instead of leopika. So if if anyone ships that I'm sorry to have cheated you out of it, lol.**

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On the fifth day of his 12th grade year, Kurapika found himself sitting alone at the secretary's desk, 45 minutes before the bell for homeroom would ring.

It wasn't an unusual occurrence, as Mr. Buhara usually spent as much time as possible in the teachers' lounge chatting with the home economics instructor and exchanging recipes with her before the start of his day.

Still, so early on in the year, Kurapika would have thought he'd be better supervised— not that he needed it. He had begun the job of student office assistant the year before when he'd been looking for something impressive sounding to put on his college applications, and he'd been good at it from the start.

By now he was practically an expert when it came to running the school office. Which was good, because far too often it seemed the adult office staff didn't actually take their jobs seriously.

Then again, neither did the principal. Principal Netero had been in the office when Kurapika had arrived for the day, but he had quickly left to go to a 'meeting.' Kurapika wasn't quite sure who one went to meet with while wearing a tee-shirt and sweatpants, but he was fairly certain it wasn't someone who had anything to do with the school. Whatever he was doing, it would apparently be over with by 4th period if Principal Netero was to be believed.

Kurapika sighed. It would be another boring morning spent shredding papers by himself. He wished he had something more intellectually stimulating to do.

As if hearing his wish, a boy knocked on the officer door before poking his head inside.

"Hi, am I too early?" The boy asked.

Kurapika smiled before waving the boy inside.

"Not at all. What can I help you with?" Kurapika asked as he examined the person in front of him.

The first thing Kurapika realized was that the boy didn't look the least bit familiar, despite looking like the type of person who would stick out, given his high spiked hair and impressive physique. For a moment Kurapika considered that the boy could be a first year, but the impressive amount of muscles on his body made him highly doubt that.

The green clad boy strolled into the office happily before coming to a stop at the desk Kurapika was occupying.

"I'm Gon Freecss. I'm new and came to get my schedule," Gon explained. "I talked to a secretary on the phone the other day. Oh, and the principal, I think! They said I could pick it up here."

Kurapika wasn't even surprised that no one had given him a heads-up.

He smiled tightly at Gon before quickly scanning Mr. Buhara's desk, looking for anything that resembled a schedule. When he didn't immediately see anything he began checking drawers.

"You'll have to give me a moment to check. The actual secretary isn't in right now, as you can see," Kurapika said, not meeting Gon's eyes as he hurriedly looked through drawers.

"Oh! I thought you looked a little young to be a school secretary," Gon said, showing no signs of irritation at having to wait.

"Yes, I'm just the student office assistant," Kurapika explained before finally finding the folder with Gon's name on it. "Ah, here it is."

Kurapika pulled open the folder and grabbed Gon's schedule, making sure not to look at anything else the file contained, before holding it out for Gon.

Gon reached for the paper, but not before very obviously running his eyes up and down Kurapika's body. The action made Kurapika snort.

"Do you see something you like?" The blond asked in a reprimanding tone with a cocked eyebrow.

Gon immediately laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, bad habit. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, if I did, especially since I just met you. And we're alone. Oh, wow, I really need to control myself! That was really creepy, wasn't it?"

Kurapika couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. Normally such an action would have immediately left Kurapika with a bad taste in his mouth, but there was something about Gon that came across as unbearably innocent despite what he had just done. The blond couldn't find it in himself to be offended, and being offended was something his friends could testify to him being quite proficient at.

"It's okay. I should just warn you that I'm not interested and am terribly prude," Kurapika said, tone joking, but words mostly true. The not being interested part was definitely true. He had unfortunately managed to lose his heart to a tall, inconsiderate, moron and hadn't yet found a way to retrieve it.

Gon grinned. "That's okay! I can already tell we're going to be friends, anyway. And I wouldn't do anything to upset a friend."

Kurapika lightly shook his head as he smiled. The only thing he could tell was that Gon was something else. But then again, maybe that was a good thing. He had a feeling Gon and Leorio would get along.

"Then that's settled, I suppose. Let me know if you need help with your schedule," Kurapika said before placing Gon's folder back in the desk where he'd found it.

"Okay!" Gon agreed before unfolding his schedule and walking toward the door as he glanced at it.

He made it three steps before turning back around.

"Uh…"

"Kurapika."

"Kurapika, my schedule is wrong," Gon said before walking back over to the desk.

"What's wrong with it?" Kurapika asked curiously although he had no power to make any changes.

"Um… Everything. I think. No, Algebra I is right, but, everything else is wrong," Gon said, his eyes looking over his schedule in horror.

"Unfortunately, you'll have to talk to Principal Netero about that. He won't be back in until 4th period. Do you think you can manage your classes until then?" Kurapika asked.

"Yeah, I can do that! I mean, if I sing quietly, I think I can," Gon said before shaking his head, as though he was shaking away whatever thought he was having. "Anyway, I'll let you get back to your work. Thanks for all the help!"

Gon then quickly turned and left the office, leaving Kurapika to his paper shredding in a much better mood than he had been before. There was something undeniably pleasant about Gon. He had probably been right; they would be friends.

For the next 20 minutes Kurapika worked by himself with only the sounds of office equipment filling up the room.

Then all at once the room got louder when Leorio barged in carrying a cup of coffee.

"Hey, 'Pika! Workin' hard or hardly working, am I right?" Leorio joked before sitting the coffee down on the desk in front of the blond.

Kurapika rolled his eyes having heard Leorio make some iteration of the phrase far too many times to him the year prior. It was only the coffee Leorio had sat down that kept a complaint from coming out of the blond's mouth.

"How are you today, Leorio?" Kurapika asked before taking a sip of the coffee Leorio had brought him. To his delight Leorio had remembered his morning coffee preference of black coffee with only one creamer.

"Pretty good. Finished my anatomy paper last night. It has 'A' written all over it," Leorio bragged as he took a seat on the corner of Mr. Buhara's desk, nearly knocking over a paperweight that was shaped like a pig.

Kurapika moved the paperweight further onto the desk before replying, "I'm happy to hear that. I know you were doing a lot of research for it."

He'd known because as usual Leorio had been blowing up his phone with text after text about his research. Kurapika had pretended to be bothered by the constant stream of messages, but really he'd enjoyed them. He liked being the person that Leorio shared his thoughts with, despite being the person least likely to text him back.

Of course Kurapika would like it more if Leorio would ask him to come over to see his research in person. Or better yet, Leorio could ask him out for a study date. One where both of their feelings could be out on the table alongside their books, and where they weren't getting kicked out of a library.

Kurapika didn't think it was much to ask.

Unfortunately the two of them had been gridlocked for over a year on the unspoken subject.

It had become obvious how they felt about one another, between the late night texting, constant bickering, and sexual tension thick enough to make Killua threaten to leave a room.

But neither of them had acted on it.

When Kurapika had first noticed Leorio's feelings, he had still been in denial about his own. Something he felt was understandable given how difficult it was to get past Leorio's spurious outer layer of douchebag to find the kind, compassionate, gregarious person underneath.

At the time he'd thought Leorio was holding back his feelings in fear of rejection. Then Kurapika had finally started accepting how he felt about Leorio. Slowly it became obvious to everyone that they liked each other. It also became obvious that Leorio wasn't going to make the first move, despite having felt something first.

In Kurapika's opinion, that was more than a little insulting.

His response had been fairly simple. He took his already obvious feelings and amplified them whenever the two were alone, but always stopped before admitting anything incriminating. Anything that too clearly spelled out 'I want to date you.'

To Kurapika's disbelief, Leorio had followed suit. For a short time Kurapika thought he had only managed to take their flirting to the next level. Then a school dance had been announced and Leorio had made a show of listing all of the people who he _might_ ask. Kurapika could still picture Killua's utterance of, 'Are you fucking for real?' while Leorio had only been looking at him, waiting for a reaction.

It was then that he'd realized that they were both playing the same game, baiting the other to be the first to confess. At the time it had been annoying, but it had also been a little exciting. A game to play. A challenge between them.

But a year later it had progressed to only being annoying. And childish. But just the same, Kurapika wasn't going to lose.

"Surprised you noticed. You weren't texting back much," Leorio accused, tone still civil.

Kurapika shredded a paper, acting disinterested. "I suppose I had my mind on other things."

"Like what?" Leorio asked, eyes looking like they were attempting to look through Kurapika's skull and into his brain.

"Hm, nothing much, I suppose. I was bored," Kurapika stating, knowing he would hit Leorio in his ego. "I was considering getting out to do something."

Leorio let out a displeased noise through his nose. "Yeah, I'm sure Killua or Melody would have been _so_ much more interesting than me."

"Probably," Kurapika agreed to Leorio's sarcasm, making the taller man glare. "Although if they weren't, I'm sure I could find someone who was."

Leorio rolled his eyes. "Who the hell else would you even hangout with?"

The question shouldn't have bothered Kurapika, seeing as there wasn't anyone else who he would choose to hangout with. But something about Leorio's tone rubbed against his feelings like sandpaper. Did Leorio think he couldn't make other friends?

Suddenly the boy from this morning popped into Kurapika's mind, making him smirk to himself.

"Mm, perhaps you're right. Although, I do have someone in mind that I would like to spend some time with."

Leorio scoffed in disbelief. "Oh yeah, who's that?"

Kurapika kept his cool. "His name's Gon; he's new. I met him this morning when I gave him his schedule. He had a very warm personality,"Kurapika explained before going in for the kill. "And a very hot body."

Kurapika almost laughed at the way Leorio half fell off of the desk in his journey to facing him.

"What the hell?" Leorio yelled.

"I'm only being honest. There's nothing to get excited about," Kurapika said easily as though they were still discussing homework. "He's very friendly and good looking, and seemed to have an interest in us spending time together. So I might ask him to do something."

Leorio stared at him as though trying to figure out if he should take him seriously or contribute his words to the challenge that had been hanging between them for a year. Kurapika loved that about Leorio. The way it was so easy to make him jealous even when Leorio _knew_ there wasn't anything to worry about. When they were dating Kurapika would have to work with him on that. For now, he was grateful for it.

Kurapika looked him straight on, trying to show that there were no lies in his words, even though they were severely out context.

Leorio looked to be doubting himself. Good.

"I mean, whatever you want to do. But you should probably have him meet us first," Us was obviously referring to him and Killua. "You know, just to make sure he'd not a weirdo or anything."

Kurapika smiled. "That's sweet Leorio, but I don't think that's necessary. He's very nice. Actually his personality reminds me of the sun."

Leoio looked like he was going to choke. Kurapika couldn't remember the last time he felt so pleased.

" _The sun_?" Leorio questioned, his voice sounding strained.

"Yes. Bright, warm, a human's natural desire to want to get plenty of it," Kurapika listed as he walked around his next to stand next to Leorio."I'm sure if you and Killua meet him you'll understand."

At first Leorio seemed ready to yell some retort, like he might suggest that there had to be something wrong with Gon, but then he steadied himself. Kurapika knew he'd just had a thought.

"Whatever you say, Kurapika. But sunshine boy seems a little too good to be true." Even as he said it, Leorio's frustration seemed to have all but vanished.

Kurapika knew Leorio was planning retaliation. Sadly, Kurapika would just have to wait for it. It was too difficult to figure out what he was thinking when Leorio had that proud look on his face. The one that made Kurapika want to pull him into the empty office supply room to resolve their unaddressed sexual tension.

"I guess we'll see," Kurapika said.

He had every plan of changing the conversation topic after that, of flirting with Leorio until classes started. But whatever Leorio was planning seemed to need immediate attention.

"I guess we will. I'll see you later."

Leorio walked out of the office, but the second he was out of sight, Kurapika heard the slamming of his shoes against the floor.

Kurapika sighed. The game was on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 2**

 **Author's Note: Hey, I'm back again with another chapter! Fun fact, this was originally the first chapter, but I added the first to get a better balance of leopika and killugon (there is still way more killugon, but what can ya do). Please let me know what you think!  
**

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Killua was not what would be considered a morning person, especially not when he had to spend said morning at school.

But as it stood, summer vacation had ended a mere five days ago and Killua found himself back at school for his 11th grade year. But at least it was public school, not homeschool. Oh, how he had hated the early years of his life where he had spent his days inside his family's mansion with some ridiculously expensive private tutor not taking their eyes off of him. But that was a long time ago.

Or at least that's what people would say when he mentioned it. To Killua it still sometimes felt like he was trapped inside the Zoldyck mansion, under constant supervision, with threats of punishment weighing heavy on his shoulders, but not quite as heavy as his oldest brother's gaze.

But that was years ago. A long time ago.

Things had gotten better since then. Much better.

Still, public school had its drawbacks. There wasn't a tutor trying to live inside his anal cavity, or an overbearing older brother breathing his air, but there were lots of other students who lacked what Killua would consider to be redeeming qualities. Qualities like not being annoying as fuck, or understanding the importance of personal space, or realizing that he _really_ didn't like them.

But at the very least Killua had his classmates trained to leave him alone for ten precious minutes at the start of each day. It had been a ritual that had begun once he'd entered high school and had become the class president, an occurrence that would have bothered him had it not come with so many perks.

One perk was that when he said he wanted no one to enter the home economics room first thing in the morning, no one did.

That was how he found himself leaning against a warm, rumbling dryer with a mouth full of Chocolate Robots and no one bothering him. As far as mornings went, it was perfect.

Until the home economics door opened and a grumbling 12th grader walked in.

Most students wouldn't dare to interrupt Killua's morning routine, but this student was different. This student was his friend. Sort of. So long as Killua didn't have to say it out loud to him.

"You will not believe what Kurapika just said to me," Leorio began as he came to a stop in front of Killua.

Killua groaned around his mouth of chocolate. Whatever it was, he did in fact believe it. Kurapika was probably the only person he knew who had a smarter mouth than he did, even if he hated to admit it.

Leorio apparently took Killua's groan as some sort of interest because he continued talking despite the fact that Killua had closed his eyes in an attempt to tune him out.

"I came to see that jerk while he was working in the office this morning, you know, being a good friend, and he had the nerve to tell me about this new kid that started today," As he spoke, Leorio began pacing back and forth. "And apparently this new kid is made of pure sunshine and—you won't believe this part— apparently Kurapika thinks he's hot and might just ask him out."

Killua opened his eyes only to roll them. He couldn't believe his morning was being ruined to talk about such bullshit.

Everyone knew Kurapika liked Leorio, just like everyone knew Leorio liked Kurapika. Why the two of them couldn't just _admit_ that to each other and save Killua's sanity was a mystery.

Whatever Kurapika had said about a new kid was said purely in response to something stupid that Leorio had said, either without realizing it was stupid or without being willing to admit to Killua in hindsight that it was stupid.

Either way, it was trivial, and it was ruining his morning.

"Don't you have something to say?!" Leorio yelled at him, looking frustrated and older than usual (which was unfortunate as he already looked pretty old normally).

Killua relented and finally swallowed the melted chocolate that he'd left resting in his mouth. He immediately regretted the loss, but he knew it had to be done. He couldn't exactly lash out at Leorio with a full mouth.

"Yeah, I can't believe that you're such a moron," Killua responded, making Leorio glare angrily at him.

"You little punk—"

"Everyone knows you two like each other and if you'd just admit it, then Kurapika would stop feeding you bullshit, and you'd stop ruining my morning," Killua reasoned as he once again closed his eyes, trying to communicate to Leorio that he was done talking.

Leorio either didn't get the message or decided to ignore it.

"Why you little— Even if you were hypothetically right, why should I be the one to admit to having feelings? Why can't he?" Leorio asked.

"Because he's out of your league?" Killua suggested.

Leorio looked like he might explode, but instead he paced back and forth in front of Killua for a few moments before pointing a finger at him.

"Look, I didn't come here to exchange quips with you," Leorio said. "I came to make you a proposition."

Killua let out the most exaggerated groan that he could, hoping to signal his disinterest. After nearly 30 seconds of the sound he finally stopped and opened his eyes to sneak a peek at Leorio.

The older student didn't look deterred.

"Are you finished?" Leorio asked.

Killua sighed. "Fine old man, let's just hurry this along."

"I want you to seduce the new kid," Leorio said without a hint of humor in his voice.

"What?" KIllua asked, because seriously, what?

"Like you said, Kurapika is just pretending to like this kid to get to me. So I want you to seduce him before Kurapika gets the chance to do anything," Leorio explained, the smirk on his face displaying a confidence in his plan that Killua certainly didn't have.

Killua ran a hand through his wild hair as he tried to come up with a response that adequately displayed his frustration.

"Okay, there are so many problems with what you're asking. You realize that, right?" Killua asked as he placed his chin on his hand.

"Look, just hear me out," Leorio started, signaling for Killua to stay seated where he was. "He thinks I'm going to get mad about what he said and make an ass out of myself in front of sunshine boy. What he's not expecting is for you to get involved."

"Right, because I'm not going to," Killua said.

"I said hear me out," Leorio admonished before he continued. "If you seduce the kid and I play it cool like what he said didn't bother me, then he's going to look dumb. Especially when I comfort him about it like I believed he meant it. He'll have no choice but to act sad about it or admit he was lying to get to me. And if he admits to lying to me, he'll have to admit to liking me! It's flawless!"

Killua sighed as he leaned his head back against the dryer. Why couldn't Leorio just tell Kurapika he liked him and stop Killua's impending headache?

"Look, there is nothing flawless about your plan. First of all, Kurapika barely knows the new kid. Even if he really did like him, he wouldn't be heartbroken if he dated someone else. He'd just brush it off. So there's no way he'd confess to you. Second, _I'm not helping you_." Killua glared heavily at Leorio, as he reached into his pocket for another box of Chocolate Robots. Nothing said he was finished talking like opening a box of those.

"Look you little turd, you don't know that! Maybe all he needs is a little push to confess to me!" Leorio hissed.

"Did you seriously just call me a little turd?" Killua asked angrily as he dropped the Chocolate Robot box back into his pocket.

"Yes, because you're seriously acting like one!" Leorio yelled as he pointed a finger in Killua's face.

"You're the one acting like a turd! Why can't you just tell Kurapika you like him? You've already confessed to me!" Killua yelled while holding back the urge to bite Leorio's finger.

"I never said anything like that!" Leorio argued.

"Yes you did! Like 15 seconds ago!"

"Why can't you just help me for once?" Leorio asked, throwing his hands up into the air.

"Because your plan doesn't make any sense!" Killua said as he threw his hands in the air to mimic Leorio's.

For a long moment Leorio just stared at Killua before he finally dropped his arms and moved to slide down the dryer into the place next to Killua.

"Look, I know it sounds crazy to you, but can't you just trust that I know Kurapika well enough to know that this will work?" Leorio asked, sounding completely out of energy.

Killua sighed. It was easy to argue with Leorio when he was yelling, but when he started looking like a deflated soccer ball it was much harder. Especially considering that Leorio was one of his closest friends.

"I just can't imagine a world where your plan would work. Plus, I'm not exactly a master at seduction," Killua confessed.

This time Leorio rolled his eyes. "Come off it, Killua. You could date anyone if you stopped being an anti-social asshole for half a second. Flash him your baby blues and mention you're the captain of the soccer team and he'll be on his knees."

"Psh, now I have to get the new guy to blow me?" Killua asked, laughing internally at his own joke.

"That part's up to you," Leorio said. "Are you considering it yet?"

"No. The best I can offer is not telling Kurapika that we had this conversation," Killua said.

"You're thinking about it!" Leorio exclaimed before a large grin appeared on his face.

"I am _not_. I do not seduce on command, and I definitely don't seduce for free." Killua didn't really do anything for free. In his mind doing things for free set up a bad precedent for anyone who found out about it.

"You think I came to you without a bribe?" Leorio asked in an offended tone.

"Well, I kind of assumed if there was a bribe involved you would have led with that," Killua admitted.

"Psh, never lead with the bribe," Leorio muttered as he reached his hands into his pants pockets. A second later he had a box of Chocolate Robots in each hand and was presenting them to Killua in a proud fashion.

"Please tell me you came armed with a better bribe than two boxes of Chocolate Robots," Killua said, already feeling offended by the small offering. "I mean, I love them, but I've got at least ten boxes stashed just in my locker."

Leorio once again rolled his eyes. "As if I would think two boxes of chocolate could sate you."

"So where's the rest? What are you offering?" Killua asked.

Leorio grinned. "Tell me again how you aren't considering it."

"I'm _not_. I'm just curious about what you think it would take to convince me," Killua explained honestly.

"Look, you aren't thinking this through," Leorio said before he turned to face Killua. "There is this totally hot guy who just transferred here. He's probably lonely, and he definitely doesn't know what a pain in the ass you can be. That makes him perfect boyfriend material."

"Are you telling me that my bribe to seduce this guy is that I will have seduced him?" Killua asked incredulously. He couldn't be serious. He couldn't be.

But then it was Leorio so _of course_ he was.

"I'm telling you that this is your golden opportunity to live the high school dream. Top of your class, captain of the soccer team, class president, and now a hot boyfriend. All you have to do is go get him," Leorio said as he hand motioned Killua toward the door as though he would immediately get up and go on a quest to seduce the new kid.

That wasn't going to happened.

"Sorry, Leorio, it's not happening," Killua said as the timer on the dryer went off. "Also our time is up. So congratulations on ruining my morning," Killua said mere seconds before the bell for homeroom rang.

Leorio quickly got up, throwing the two boxes of Chocolate Robots down to Killua.

"You just keep thinking about it. We'll talk more about it later," Leorio said before waving a goodbye and darting out of the room.

"I promise you, we won't!" Killua yelled to Leorio's retreating body as he pulled himself up and away from the dryer.

Killua stuffed the boxes into his pocket as he began his walk to homeroom.

The more Killue thought about Leorio's proposal the more confident he felt that it was a bad idea. There was nothing Leorio could say to make him seduce the new kid.

But if he was being honest with himself, he knew the plan being bad wasn't the only reason he was refusing to go through with it.

The truth was that Killua wouldn't even know how to seduce a boy. Hell, he didn't even know how to _talk_ to boys he thought were attractive. Despite the air of indifference that surrounded him, when it came to that sort of thing he was…Well, _super fucking embarrassed_ just about covered the feeling.

He remembered once during his first year of high school when he'd gotten caught staring at an attractive senior named Kastro. The guy had been super tall and super dignified, and Killua had felt his little heart flutter when he'd heard rumors that Kastro was going to fight some guy three hours away just because he didn't like his unpleasant attitude.

So of course when the older boy had acknowledged his gaze, Killua had attempted to blend into the wall, which, _shockingly_ , didn't work. What it did do was cause the older male to laugh at him before asking if Killua wanted to talk to him. Killua had only barely managed to stutter out a reply about his interest in the fight, which only served to make Kastro laugh more.

By the end of their very short conversation Killua's face had turned a warm pink color and his brain had completely turned off to the point where even as an 11th grader he still didn't remember what Kastro had said to him. The only thing he did remember was Kastro ruffling his hair when he walked away from him, as though he was a small child. It had been _mortifying._

The only relief to the situation had come a week later when news spread that Kastro had lost his fight. After all, who cared about impressing a guy who got his ass kicked after talking such a big game?

But even though what happened then was far behind him, the memory was always there in the back of Killua's mind when he thought about relationships. He knew he hadn't changed. He hadn't learned how to process the warm feelings that attraction brought on, let alone the feeling that a full blown crush would bring. And he wasn't planning on learning to process any warm, fuzzy, embarrassing emotions anytime soon.

He was still getting used to the feeling of having friends; he wasn't ready to take on something else. Especially something that had a high chance of wounding his pride. If there was one thing Killua wouldn't risk losing, it was that.

So regardless of his plea, Leorio was totally on his own.

Besides, if Killua had a boyfriend he'd probably feel entitled to at least one of the boxes of Chocolate Robots in his pocket, and Killua had no intentions of learning to share.

He was really better off alone with a mouth full of chocolate.


	3. Chapter 3

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 3**

 **Author's Note: Hey y'all, here's another chapter! And there's finally some killugon interaction (and from here on out there will be tons of it). Also, it dawns on me that I should have mentioned that this story is going to contain lots of soccer talk. Like, 2/3 of this fic takes place on a soccer field. But if you don't know how to play soccer it shouldn't really matter. I tried to simplify terms as much as possible.  
**

 **Also, since I've given fun facts for every other chapter, the term kicking against the goad actually comes from the term kicking against the pricks in the King James Bible. Basically when you had oxen hitched to a wagon the driver would use this long sharp tool to guide them, goading them in the direction they wanted. If the oxen didn't want to go that way and kicked out against the tool, they would get poked and it would hurt them (mind you I do not endorse stabbing oxen). So the term kicking against the goad refers to making a fuss and trying to get out of something, when it would have been less painful to just go with it in the first place. *CoughForeshadowingCough*  
**

 **Anyway, read on! Any criticism is appreciated!**

* * *

Killua stopped at his locker before his fourth class of the day to switch out his books. As usual the hallway was a zoo, with human students acting as the animals. It was loud and it was crowded, both things that urged Killua to make his book switch quickly so that he could get to his classroom.

However, before his quick switch could be finished a monkey grabbed hold of his shoulder. The monkey of course being his analogy for Leorio.

"So Kurapika was not exaggerating any of the details about the new kid," Leorio said as he spun Killua around to face him. "He _is_ hot, and I think he might literally shit sunlight."

"Sounds painful." Killua shut his locker door and attempted to make his way around Leorio.

He unfortunately didn't make it. Monkeys were good at blocking.

"No, no, no. You at least have to meet the guy before you refuse to seduce him," Leorio told him as he steered Killua through the mob of students.

"Do I look like the kind of guy who's into sunshine? And I already told you my answer," Killua said, still allowing Leorio to lead him down the hall. He knew it was better to get the meeting over with. The sooner he met the guy, the sooner he could convince Leorio that he was serious about not seducing him.

"I'm pretty sure we agreed that you would think about it," Leorio said to him before his eyes lit up and he began waving enthusiastically at someone down the hall. "Hey, Gon!"

"Oh, Leorio! Hi!"

Killua looked in the direction of the voice and was met with a smile that probably belonged in a dental ad.

As the boy came closer Killua couldn't help giving him a once over. He had to admit he was good looking from his deeply tanned skin to his muscular thighs encased in shorts that probably challenged the school's dress code. Not to mention he was broad in the shoulders in a way that Killua greatly admired.

There was also something about him that felt familiar, although Killua couldn't place what it was.

Once the boy was in front of them, Leorio wrapped an arm around Killua as though trapping him so that he couldn't escape.

"Gon, I wanted to introduce you to Killua. He's your class' president," Leorio said. It was obvious he was setting the tone to talk Killua up.

"Oh, cool! I'm Gon!" The guy said as he held his hand out for Killua to shake.

Killua took his hand, ignoring the jolt that went through his skin as he did so, and shook. "Killua. Welcome to Hunter."

It was as their hands parted that Killua noticed Gon's eyes looking him up and down. It could have been innocent, but frankly the way Gon grinned when Killua noticed made it hard to tell.

"Yeah, Killua will be a guy you'll definitely want to know," Leorio said confidently as he jostled him a little as he moved, his arm still around Killua. "He's one of the smartest people you'll ever meet, and if you like soccer, our captain here is the one to talk to."

Gon's eyes had been looking curiously at Leorio's arm around Killua (not surprising as it was as uncomfortable as it looked to be under the lanky arm), but upon the mention of soccer, his eyes grew to the size of Gungi tiles as he focused solely on Killua.

"You play soccer? Me too! Well, I did—I mean, I still do, just not on a team right now," Gon babbled.

Normally the messy speech combined with the way Gon was leaning into his personal space would have bothered Killua, but because Gon was talking about soccer, Killua could excuse it.

Killua himself was obsessed with soccer. It was the first thing he'd ever found that he actually liked and wanted to do. It was also the first thing he'd fought his parents to be able to have. His parents had originally been against him playing, considering it a waste of time, but he'd eventually convinced them that having a sport as an extracurricular activity would only make his future college applications look better.

The truth was that Killua didn't care about college and definitely didn't care about the business degree his parents planned for him to pursue in preparation to take over the family business. All he wanted to do was play soccer until his legs gave out from under him. Probably longer.

"What position do you play?" Gon asked, seeming to realize that he had been babbling.

"Midfielder—" Killua didn't make it any further than that before Gon was bouncing up and down in excitement, eager noises escaping his lips.

"Me too, me too! It's so boring when you can have your run of the field!"

Gon's voice was louder than it needed to be to speak to someone standing directly in front of him, particularly someone who he was leaning into so fervently. Killua knew that. And by all means it should have been enough to make him want out of the conversation as soon as possible. But that wasn't what he wanted.

Gon's enthusiasm was contagious and in the minute that they had been speaking Killua had caught it. There was just something about Gon that made it easy to get caught up in his energy. Once again Killua felt a familiarity with Gon that he couldn't quite place, like this wasn't the first time that he'd fed off of his mood.

"Tell me about it! I started out as a forward when I was younger, but midfield is _so_ much more fun." More fun was an understatement. Killua loved his position on the soccer field passionately. Soccer had been great even when he was playing as a forward, but there was something special about finding the place he belonged. The place where he thrived.

"No way! I started out as a forward too! But I could never stay on one side of the field. If I saw an opening or if a defender was struggling, I was there—"

" _Yes_. It's like, just let me handle it," Killua agreed, finding himself leaning closer to Gon for no practical reason.

"Wow, this is so cool! Where on midfield do you play?" Gon asked, his interest genuine.

"Usually I'm playmaker, but I play central too. What about you?" It felt so strange to be asking because he was actually curious and not out of feigned politeness. But he didn't have time to dwell on it, seeing as Gon was still speaking at a rapid pace that demanded Killua's attention.

"I'm the opposite! I usually play central, but sometimes playmaker!" Gon then sheepishly added, "I get too distracted by what I'm doing to be playmaker for too long, though, heh."

Killua found himself laughing at the admission and a second later Gon joined him, a joyous sound coming out of him that made Killua's gut feel warm. It was while feeling that warmth that Killua noticed that Gon's nose was covered in tiny freckles. Wow, this guy was beautiful.

He also had the potential to be useful, and no amount of warm feelings would make Killua ignore something that could benefit him.

"Okay, so why aren't you playing on our team?" Killua asked as he placed his hands behind his head in a casual way, his arms brushing against Leorio, whom he'd almost forgotten was there.

Gon's shoulders immediately slumped as a frown took over his face. "I asked the principal about playing, but he said that tryouts were over and that I'd have to wait until next year."

Killua scoffed before rolling his eyes. "Ignore that old bat. He doesn't know what he's talking about. If you want to play just come to practice tonight."

"Oh my gosh! Really? That would be okay?" Gon asked, eyes wide and facial features suggesting that he would plead if that was necessary.

Killua shrugged. "As captain I can pull a few strings." There were no strings to pull. Bisky wouldn't care if someone joined late in the season as long as there were dedicated. Killua just liked to flaunt his position. However there was one condition. "That is, if you can keep up."

Gon's brows immediately drew closer together as his face transformed into a determined one. "I wouldn't worry about that. I think I can keep up with you." Once again Gon's eyes scanned his body, this time perhaps to size him up.

"I don't know about that, Gon. If there is one thing Killua knows how to handle, it's a soccer ball. Well, that and a cute guy," Leorio said before ruffling his hair.

Killua wanted to murder him. To stick his hand into Leorio's chest and pull out his still beating heart. Unfortunately, an act like that would surely be grounds for expulsion. He was also too embarrassed to fight.

A soccer ball and a cute guy? Had Leorio seriously thought that that was a good thing to say?

Killua's face was scorched red and it took an inordinate amount of willpower to do anything besides flee the scene, but he managed to shove Leorio as hard as he could in his embarrassed state.

"Shut up!" Killua commanded, his voice breaking from the stress of the humiliation.

"Aww, come on Killu, don't get all embarrassed!" Leorio said as his arm once again encircled Killua.

Killua was going to break that arm as soon as his face cooled down.

"Then don't say something to get me embarrassed!" Killia hissed as he crossed his arms and turned his face away from Leorio.

" _Oh_ ," Gon suddenly said, sounding a little disappointed, before breaking out into what could only be described as a giggle as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Killua was about to question him on the meaning of his word before the bell rang and Gon suddenly looked toward a hallway intercom in a panic.

"Oh, I need to go! I have to go to the office still. My schedule is so messed up," Gon told the pair.

Killua slipped himself out of Leorio's grip as the older student's attention went straight to Gon.

"How bad is it?" Leorio asked.

Gon laughed. "I had choir as my first class. I'm pretty sure my voice made me a couple of enemies."

Leorio laughed and Killua couldn't help letting out a light snort despite still being red in the face.

"Anyway, I have to go fix that. Killua, is there anything I need to know about soccer practice tonight?" Gon asked quickly, his voice sounding like he was afraid Killua would tell him never mind and not to come to practice.

"Just show up at the field after school. If you happen to have your gear on you, bring it," Killua told him. There really wasn't anything else to be worked out. Killua would introduce him to Bisky at the start of practice and she could bring up any concerns, though Killua doubted she would have any.

Gon nodded fiercely before waving goodbye to them. He then turned toward the office. He only made it two steps before he turned around and called back to Killua. "Is there any chance I'll get to play center?"

Killua grinned. "Show me you can keep up."

Gon grinned back before his eyes darted over to Leorio and he laughed to himself again before finally breaking out in a jog toward the office.

He was a weird guy.

A really, really beautiful, weird guy.

"So admit it; you totally want to seduce him," Leorio whispered in his ear, having leaned down to reach it.

Killua put on the best angelic face he could muster before he turned to Leorio. "I know exactly what I want to do."

A second later, Leorio was on his knees, hands over his groin where Killua had punched him.

" _I know how to handle soccer balls and cute guys_?" Killua hissed down at him. "It's no wonder you can't talk to Kurapika without pissing him off."

Leorio only nodded, a couple of tears rolling down the corners of his eyes. "I deserved that. I really did."

Killua nodded, as satisfied as he could get without inflicting enough damage on Leorio to end their friendship. "You really did. Also, I'm not seducing him," Killua said before beginning his walk to class. He was going to be late.

Behind him Leorio groaned.

"Oh, come on!"

Killua just kept walking.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 4**

 **Author's Note: Hey guys! So I don't know what happened with my last update, but the site didn't show that I'd updated? Like, it said the last time I update was April 30, but I updated on May 4. Anyway, if you missed chapter 3, that's probably why.  
**

 **And for our fun fact, in chapter 1 I mentioned Castro driving 3 hours to fight someone. That someone was obviously Hisoka. But it never comes up that Gon and Hisoka went to the same school. So while Killua heard about the fight, Gon saw it in person. Kind of a flip-flop of how it went down in the anime.**

 **And now for our regularly scheduled program! Let me know what you think!**

* * *

Killua had just finished lacing up his cleats when he noticed Gon jogging toward him, cleats on his feet and guards on his shins.

"I knew there was a reason I was keeping my soccer stuff in my bag," Gon said as he offered his hand to help Killua up. For a second Killua just stared. The sun framed the face looking down at him, making Gon seem to glow. He looked ethereal in a way that left Killua feeling more disbelieving than attracted. Seriously, how could anyone look like that without some sort of CGI effect?

After processing the fact that Gon might in fact be some sort of sun god, Killua accepted his hand, taking great care to make sure that he didn't hold on for too long. Of course he didn't have to hold on for long to notice how rough and calloused Gon's hand was.

Nice.

"It's good you came prepared. It'll help make a good impression on Bisky," Killua said as he dusted off his shorts.

"Bisky?" Gon asked curiously.

"The coach," Killua elaborated. "Her name is Biscuit Krueger, but we all call her Bisky. And just a heads up, she might not look like much, but don't say it or even think it. She'll have us doing pushups the whole practice."

Gon nodded, his face pulled together in a serious expression.

"Anyway, come on and I'll introduce you," Killua offered as he started walking toward the blonde woman, trusting Gon to follow.

Gon fell into step beside him, a bounce in his step that made Killua simultaneously smile and roll his eyes.

"I'm so excited to play on a team again, Killua. I'm so glad Leorio introduced us," Gon prattled on, his fists squeezed in excitement in front of him as he walked.

"Yeah, yeah," Killua said, his cheeks turning red as he struggled to think of an appropriate response. He was glad when they reached Bisky before it was awkward that he didn't have one.

"Hey, Bisky, this is the guy I mentioned," Killua said to the blonde woman who was dumping balls out of a netted bag.

"Hello, Coach Krueger, it's nice to meet you," Gon said as he stuck out his hand for her to shake, his back going completely straight. Killua had never seen anyone with such perfect posture. "I'm Gon Freecss."

"Ooo, Coach Krueger! It's nice to finally have some respect from someone other than Zushi!" Bisky cooed before shaking Gon's hand. "Still, you can just call me Bisky."

"Of course!" Gon agreed quickly.

"Anyway, I don't see any problem with you just jumping right into practice with the rest of the team today. We aren't too many practices in, so things should be easy enough to follow. But, if you do have any questions, just ask me or Killua. We can talk about paperwork after practice. Sound good?" Bisky asked, smiling at her new recruit.

"Yeah! That sounds great! I can't wait to get started!" Gon said.

"That's the attitude I like to see! Now, let's see if it lasts," Bisky said with a smirk after Killua's own heart. She then lifted the silver whistle from around her neck and blew it. Immediately the rest of the team circled her.

"Alright, team, it's time for another practice! I expect to see 100% effort at all times or you can expect plenty of push-ups," Bisky announced. "I also want to introduce you all to our new player, Gon. We sadly don't have time for a long introduction, but I hope you'll all make him feel welcome. Anyway, Killua?"

As with the other practices of the season (and of the season prior) Bisky handed the reigns over to Killua to lead the warm-up exercises. As captain she had told him it was his responsibility to make sure everyone warmed up. It was also his responsibility to make sure that by the time they started playing games, the team respected him enough to actually listen to him. Bisky had told him the year before that if he couldn't make it happen she'd pick a captain that could. Luckily he'd never had a problem with making people listen to him.

"Okay, two laps around the field, then meet in the middle to stretch," Killua called out before he began leading the team around the field at a brisk jogging pace.

Killua jogged alone at the front of the pack, his breathing level and easy as he let his legs stretch out. It wasn't unusual for Killua to be alone as he ran, in fact he tried to keep it that way. There was something about being at the front of the group that screamed good leadership.

Gon of course didn't seem to think the same thing as he fell into step with Killua not long after the run had begun.

The pair ran in silence, keeping even strides for about 15 seconds before Killua decided to break the quiet, partially because he wanted to talk and partially because Gon was being quiet around him for the first time since he'd met him and it felt strange.

"Did you get your schedule figured out?" Killua asked. "Or should I avoid the next choir concert?"

Gon laughed easily, the running seeming to have no effect on his breathing.

"Well… My singing days are luckily over, so that's good!" Gon said, looking and sounding like having a positive attitude was putting a serious strain on him.

"But?" Killua asked.

"To do that and make the other changes I needed they had to put me in Algebra II instead of Algebra I. And I'm kind of… Really bad at math? So I don't know what I'm going to do about that." Gon said, sounding nervous about the class that he hadn't even started yet.

"Well, you might be in luck," Killua told him, instantly garnering Gon's attention. "The soccer team holds study sessions twice a week on our off days from practice to make sure everyone stays eligible. So providing you can keep up with us today, that might be something you can attend."

"Really? That would help so much!" Gon said, seeming to ignore the part about having to keep up first. Whether that was because he was confident he could or because he had realized after meeting Bisky that Killua was talking out of his ass, the captain didn't know.

"Yeah, I'm actually the one who'll be handing the math tutoring this year, since I'm taking calculus," Killua explained.

"Oh, wow! You must be really smart!" Gon said.

Killua only hummed, slightly embarrassed by the complement, despite the fact that he had only mentioned taking calculus to impress the other boy.

"I hope I have some classes with you," Gon said before quickly adding, "Oh, and Leorio!"

At the mention of the other boy's name, Killua's cheeks dusted pink. He had almost forgotten the embarrassing event that had happened earlier in the day.

Why had Leorio had to say something so embarrassing to Gon? Killua had already decided there was no way in hell he'd ever seduce Gon, but he did kind of want to be friends with him.

Actually, he really, really wanted to be friends with him. And Leorio said something that could have messed things up! He was lucky that Gon didn't seem to think that he was a total loser, or Leorio would have gotten more than a punch in the junk.

Still, there was no way Killua could move forward in making friends with Gon without trying to explain what had been said earlier. Even if Gon didn't care, he certainly did.

"I'm actually really sorry about Leorio," Killua said.

"Huh, Why?" Gon asked as they turned into the second half of their first lap.

"Well, generally, just for him as a human being," Killua said casually. "But also for what he said earlier about…Me handling cute guys and soccer balls. That's not really the impression I'm going for."

"Oh, Killua! You don't have to apologize for that! I actually thought it was really cute," Gon confessed, causing Killua to raise a brow.

"Cute?" Killua asked. He was going to need clarification on that one.

"Yeah. The way he dotes on you is nice. You two seem really happy," Gon said before offering Killua a smile.

Killua had in the past heard the expression involving a heart skipping a beat, but at Gon's words Killua felt like his brain had skipped a beat. For five seconds it was like his brain was stuck on buffering because he truly couldn't even begin to digest what Gon had just said.

Then all at once it was his brain was jump started.

"What? We seem— Do you think Leorio and I are dating?" It was a question Killua had never imagined having to ask. Most of the time people couldn't even believe they were friends if Kurapika wasn't there to stand in between them.

Gon looked like he'd just been told that the world was neither round nor flat, but actually the shape of a pelican.

"Aren't you?" Gon asked, confusion evident.

"Oh my— Of course not! Idiot! Why would you think that?" Killua asked, clearly offended and clearly at a loss.

"I mean, he was being so… _Extra_ about you in the hallway. Like, talking about all the stuff you're involved in. And he was touching you a lot. And when he said the thing about cute guys— well, he was talking about how you handle him, right?"

"No! That's! There is no wrong-er interpretation of what you saw!" Killua was going to die. He had brought this up to ease his embarrassment and suddenly it was so much worse.

"Oh, well okay."

Gon was giving him a _look_. A look that said, 'Okay, so you aren't dating; you just want to be. It's cute that you're embarrassed so we'll just keep it between us.'

Killua could not handle what was happening. Gon actually thought he had a crush on Leorio. He thought Killua was some idiot with feelings for Leorio that he couldn't admit to having even when it was obvious—

Oh holy hell, when had he turned into Kurapika?

There was no way he would let Gon continue thinking that. He was going to be set straight even if it meant exposing Leorio's plan.

The idiot deserved it for how badly his execution had been.

"No, seriously. You have it all wrong. Leorio wasn't saying that stuff to," Killua had to take a moment's pause to force out the next word. " _dote_ on me. He was saying it to impress _you_."

"Impress me?" Gon suddenly seemed very interested.

"Yeah, look, there's this person that you met earlier today. I won't say who they were, but Leorio has a huge crush on them. But that person told Leorio that you were super hot—"

"Oh, that's really nice!"

"And that they might ask you out. Leorio was furious about it, even though I'm pretty sure the other g-person was just saying it to bother him. Anyway, Leorio's brilliant solution to making sure that that didn't happen was getting me to seduce you." Killua attempted to sound nonchalant at the admission, but he knew that his hot face and the way he was suddenly speaking faster probably didn't sound very convincing. "Anyway, I _obviously_ rejected that plan. I mean, how stupid, right? But he didn't take no for an answer. So even though he knew I wasn't on board with his plan, _at all_ , and would never do that sort of thing, he was still trying to get you interested."

Gon hummed in response, a noise that Killua didn't know how to interpret. He decided to keep talking, hoping that he would stumble upon something to make things less awkward.

"It's actually kind of funny how badly his plan backfired. I mean, his one goal was to get you interested in me and all he managed to do was make it look like I was already off the market. I can't wait to tell him about this conversation. I'm never going to let him live this down." Killua was fairly certain that at this point he was just word vomiting. While the whole thing definitely had potential to be funny, it only would be if Gon thought it was too.

Luckily a second later Gon burst out into laughter.

"Oh, wow, Killua! That's so crazy!" Gon said, seeming perfectly amused and not at all like he thought Killua was some crazy loser.

Killua grinned. "Right? I wish I could say Leorio doesn't come up with crazy stuff like this often, but he's just one of those guys."

"Ha, that's okay. I don't mind crazy people," Gon said as they neared the end of their first lap around the field. "Thanks for not trying to seduce me though."

There was a painful pull at Killua's chest at Gon's words. Killua was never going to seduce him; he wasn't emotionally prepared to do such a thing. But he still couldn't help the bit of disappointment he felt knowing that Gon wouldn't want that sort of attention from him. Killua hadn't even known the other boy for a day and he already desperately wanted Gon to like him. It was pathetic.

"Not your type, huh?" Killua asked, making sure to sound like he was joking. In reality he just wanted to hear Gon say that he wasn't. The sooner he had the idea reinforced, the better. Then he could work on pursuing a friendship with Gon, which he already felt was a longshot. It was amazing Killua had the two friends that he did. He knew he was hard to like.

"Oh, it's not that," Gon said, immediately surprising Killua. "It's just obvious that you would have embarrassed yourself."

Killua's mouth fell open in disbelief. He was about to say something when he noticed the smirk on Gon's face. During Killua's moment of hesitation Gon started talking again.

"I mean, your best friend asked you to seduce me and you shot him down before you even met me to gage if you could do it. That obviously means that you know you couldn't seduce anyone. I wouldn't have wanted you to try and then get all embarrassed when you failed," Gon said, his voice chipper and light.

Gon's chipper tone only added to the irritation Killua felt at his words. Who the hell did Gon think he was?

"Okay, no. See, I said no because I have morals," Killua said despite having what could only be classified as very loose morals.

"Oh, yeah, _of course_ ," Gon agreed in way that made it obvious that he did not at all believe what Killua was saying.

"It's true!" Killua snapped.

Gon only hummed as the grin on his face grew wider.

"I don't know why you're acting like you have any way of knowing how well I can seduce someone," Killua practically hissed.

Gon hummed again before answering. "I guess you're right. I just get the impression that you couldn't do it."

"Yeah, well, you're wrong! I could have seduced you if I had wanted to. I just thought the whole thing was stupid," Killua explained, only half lying. He had thought the whole thing was stupid, after all.

"Prove it."

Killua almost tripped over his own feet at the command. "Excuse me?"

"Prove it," Gon repeated. "Seduce me by the end of practice."

Killua began laughing almost immediately. There was no way Gon was being earnest. But a quick look at the shorter boy's determined face told him that he was indeed serious. Still, that didn't keep Killua from double checking.

"You can't be serious," Killua said, although he was quite certain this boy wasn't being facetious. "How am I even supposed to do that when you know I'm trying to do it?"

"Me knowing about it doesn't change anything," Gon assured him. "I'm really honest, Killua. I like being flirted with, and being seduced sounds really fun. So if you do a good job with it, I won't fight it because I'll like the attention. But, if you flop at it like I'm expecting, then I'll let you know. I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself more than necessary."

Killua's blood was boiling. Gon had basically just told him that despite being easily susceptible to romantic attention, he didn't believe Killua could successfully seduce him. For no reason Gon just seemed to assume that there was no way that Killua could capture someone's attention.

It was so _frustrating_. Sure, Killua wouldn't consider himself someone who was capable of seducing another person, but he'd be _damned_ if he was going to let Gon say those things after only having known him for a day.

Screw it. Killua was going to seduce Gon. He was going to seduce the _shit_ out of him.

"You want me to seduce you by the end of practice?" Killua asked, clarifying his objective.

Gon smirked. "I want to see you try."

Oh, it was so on.

Without another word Killua stuck his right leg out in front of Gon. The boy immediately went falling face forward and would have inevitably crashed had Killua not been ready to catch him, only to pull Gon down on top of himself. The maneuver ended with Gon lying chest to chest on top of Killua.

"Look who's already falling for me," Killua said as he huffed his chest out against Gon's, making sure that the other boy felt the muscles there.

Gon let out what could only be described as a giggle before he leaned down to Killua's ear, allowing hot breath to ghost over it before he spoke, "So are you always on the bottom, or is this just how you want to start out?"

Killua's face was red before he had even fully processed the words that had been said to him. He simply hadn't been expecting Gon to say something so lewd in response to him, especially not as the rest of the soccer team ran right by them.

The smile on Gon's face when he pulled his head back far enough to look Killua in the eyes said that he knew he'd shocked him. That look alone made it take every ounce of willpower Killua had not to sputter out a reply that would essentially translate to telling Gon to go screw himself.

Instead he forced what he hoped was a seductive smile onto his face.

"I know a way you can find out," Killua said, making his voice as husky as he could. He prayed he sounded sexy and not like he had been sick and throwing up for days.

The smile he got in return for his comment made it hard to tell if he'd succeeded or epically failed.

Before anything else happened a loud whistle caught both of their attention.

"Killua, Gon! You have until the end of the lap to make it to the front of the pack or you're doing 100 pushups each!" Bisky yelled, not at all concerned for the players who had 'fallen' down.

Killua and Gon made eye contact for less than a second before they were pushing their mess of limbs up and running at top speed.

"Race you to the front!" Gon challenged.

"You're on!" Killua agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 5**

 **Author's Note: Hello you lovely people! Let's celebrate Mother's Day together with fanfiction. Because isn't fanfiction the best gift of all? lol. Speaking of gifts, thank you all for the reviews you've left! Nothing makes me smile quite like seeing another comment. So please, good or bad, let me know what you think!  
**

 **And fun fact: So I mentioned that Palm and Ikalgo were originally my side pairing instead of leopika, but I didn't mention where leopika were. They were actually nowhere, not even at Gon'a old school. It wasn't until I was struggling to think of a way for things to work out for Palm and Ikalgo, even though Ikalgo sabotaged her, that I realized Leorio and Kurapika made way more sense. So then I scrapped the 6k I'd had written and totally didn't scream at all.**

 **Now on with the show!  
**

* * *

For a minute they were both shots of energy as they weaved their ways through the other players to make it to the front. They managed to make it to the front of the group a mere two feet before the end of the lap. More interestingly, they did it side-by-side with neither of them quite coming out as being faster.

Killua's first instinct was to tell Gon that he had definitely finished first despite them obviously having tied. But the impromptu race was pushed to the back of his mind in favor of the larger issue at hand.

"So, you didn't seem like you were that difficult to seduce," Killua said smugly.

"Eh? I'm not seduced," Gon said as his head tilted to the left, making him look like a confused dog.

"Huh?" Killua asked, his mouth dropping open in confusion before he quickly regained his wits. "But what you said back there when we were on the ground?"

"Oh!" Gon said before giggling in an innocent way that in no way matched the sensual way he had spoken to Killua just a minute before. "I wasn't seduced; I was just flirting."

"Why would you flirt if you weren't seduced, idiot?" Killua asked, embarrassed by having made the mistake.

Killua's embarrassment might have gotten worse had Gon not looked slightly sheepish as he answered.

"I just really like to flirt," Gon admitted with a shy smile before suddenly grinning. "Besides, I have to flirt back a little. I need to see if you can handle me."

"If I can handle you?" Killua asked. He had never met someone with so little shame.

"Mmhmm. So far you seem too embarrassed to," Gon mused before shrugging. "But then again, you are really cute when you blush."

It was good that Gon thought so because Killua found himself fighting to keep the heat off of his face, although he knew well enough from experience that it was a losing battle.

Gon laughed as the blush on his face darkened.

"See, that's what I mean! You're embarrassed, but you're really cute too!" Gon said, obviously not caring about Killua's discomfort.

Oh, Killua was going to get him. He was going to get him good. He was going to get Gon so good that he would be _begging_ to look at Killua's cute face. And while he was begging Gon's face would be the cute one.

…Or something like that.

Killua pulled himself together before he leaned in close to Gon, stifling the other boy's laughter with his proximity.

"Well, I can't wait to embarrass you to see if you get any cuter," Killua told him before turning and whistling loudly at the soccer team awkwardly standing away from him and Gon.

"Okay, line up for stretches!" Killua ordered, standing in front of the group as the rest of the team got into three horizontal lines facing him. Gon boldly chose a spot in the front row.

Killua started the group off with arm stretches, walking among the players with his right arm across his chest, making sure that they were all stretching out to his satisfaction.

It was while he was walking among the players that he decided what his next move with Gon would be. He waited until he'd directed the group to begin stretching their legs by spreading them and reaching down as far as they could to set his plan into motion.

He himself had held the position for the allotted 20 seconds before he yelled at the group to not change positions.

"I see a lot of lazy stretching!" Killua called before he went to the back of the group, slowly correcting the forms of other players.

It was after admonishing Ikalgo for not having his toes pointed forward that Killua came to a halt behind Gon.

For a long moment Killua just studied Gon's ass, making sure it was clear to the other boy that he was doing so, before leaning down to speak to him.

"Sorry, I was trying to see if there was anything wrong with your position, but I got distracted," Killua said lowly enough that no one else on the team could hear him. "But don't worry, it's perfect."

Gon tilted his head up to look at Killua, an innocent looking smile on his face. "Which? My ass or my stance?"

Killua barely swallowed down his complaint at Gon's lack of shame. It was only the smile turned smirk on Gon's face that kept him on track.

"Both, but your stance is especially good. It's _very_ open," Killua said lewdly hoping for some kind of reaction.

Killua knew his mission was to seduce Gon, but he'd settle for embarrassing him. Hell, Gon seemed weird enough that those might be the same thing.

Gon laughed joyfully as though Killua had said something especially charming or like he himself was about to. "Given some time and preparation that's something that my ass and stance can have in common."

Killua _choked_. Even as he stood up and turned away from the group he could hear Gon cackling.

How? How could anyone say that to someone they had known for less than a day? Did Gon want him dead? Was Gon trying to kill him? For fuck's sake, how could he just talk about that sort of thing? How could he even think it?

"Uh, Kill—Captain Zoldyck, are you okay?" Zushi asked from his spot beside Gon.

Killua whirled back around to face the group

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be? Everything is fine!" Killua declared trying to ignore the way Zushi was looking in between him and a snickering Gon. "Stretch to the left side!"

As Killua stretched to the left he tried to focus on just that. Stretching he could do. Anything related to soccer he could do. It was trying to play this game of seduction with Gon that was killing him. Killua wasn't sure why he'd agreed to it. A normal person would have been hard for Killua to seduce, but it was becoming increasingly clear that Gon wasn't normal.

That or Killua had seriously underestimated how perverted the entire student body was when he wasn't listening.

Either way, Killua was screwed. He had agreed to a challenge that he couldn't possibly succeed at. And what was worse was that he'd been sure he'd fail at such a challenge since before he'd met Gon that morning. It was why he'd told Leorio he wouldn't help in the first place. Why had he agreed to try something that he knew he couldn't do?

"Right side!"

As Killua leaned over to his right side he spared a glance up at Gon. The bronzed skinned boy was no longer laughing, but seemed to be paying close attention to Killua. It was like he was waiting for a next move, as though he didn't think Killua was going to throw down the white flag after his last remark.

Gon caught Killua's eyes, and for the first time since Gon had posed the challenge he smiled at Killua kindly in a way that suggested he was having _fun_ and he somehow didn't think it was at Killua's expense. The smile seemed to suggest that they were both having equal amounts of fun, in fact.

Killua was flabbergasted. What he was feeling wasn't _fun_ , it was torture. He'd put his pride on the line and he was losing to a boy who seemed unable to process or even feel embarrassment.

Gon cocked an eyebrow at Killua when he didn't smile back. The blue eyed boy forced a smirk onto his face as he licked his lips. If he was going to lose it might as well be spectacularly. Maybe then he wouldn't be so surprised if a friendship with Gon didn't pan out.

Upon seeing Killua's tongue slide across his lips, Gon only looked more excited.

"Okay, on the ground!" Killua demanded as he got into the position to do a 'vee sit.' "Center first!"

The group in front of Killua all stretched forward, their hands and bodies reaching as far frontward as possible. Some were more flexible than others. In the back row Killua could see Palm with her head almost touching the ground as Meleoron struggled beside her to get his fingertips equal with his toes.

More importantly was what Gon was doing in the front row.

His stretching was fine. He was definitely pushing his body as far as he needed to go to avoid an injury from lack of preparation. That being said, Gon's wrists were just barely as far extended as his toes. It was a blessing that he wasn't more flexible; it meant Killua was going to look even more impressive.

Killua leaned forward into position, his arms sliding against the grass until his chest touched the ground. His chin rested against the dirt as he looked at Gon. To Killua's immense pleasure, Gon's mouth fell open in surprise as his eyes widened.

Killua grinned. He hoped Gon's imagination was running wild with the uses of his flexibility. It would serve him right. Damn weird, hot, pervert.

"Count to 20!" Killua called out as the group stretched.

Gon had recovered from his shock and was counting along with the rest of the group as he attempted to stretch farther forward, seemingly trying to match Killua. The silver haired boy couldn't help but be amused by Gon's effort. It didn't seem to be getting him anywhere.

After the count to 20 was over Killua called for the group to stretch forward to the left side. It was then that he took the chance to torment Gon farther.

"Hey, Freecss, can't you stretch any farther than that? Seems like the kind of thing you'd be good at," Killua prompted Gon lowly, knowing that the rest of the team would ignore him and count on unless he was yelling.

"Sorry, Captain Zoldyck, I need help go further than this. Maybe you could give me a hand sometime?" Gon replied suggestively.

Beside Gon, Zushi was staring with creased brows. It looked like he was catching on to the obvious suggestive nature of the conversation going on in front of him. It should have made Killua embarrassed, but the soccer captain was too focused on not letting Gon best him again.

"Sure. I can think of a couple of stretches that would be beneficial to you," Killua said quickly before turning his attention to the rest of the group. "Right side!"

Gon looked straight up devious when he replied, "I can think of a couple that would be beneficial to us both."

Zushi let out a high pitched sound that Killua had not previously known existed, yet somehow knew signaled shock, embarrassment, and a need to be anywhere else. Killua glared at the boy.

"Hey, Zushi, are you counting? Do you need to do some pushups?" Killua called out loudly enough for the entire team to hear.

His chastisement immediately brought a red tint to Zushi's cheeks. Killua might have felt guilty if not for the pleasure of seeing someone besides himself embarrassed.

"Sorry, Captain Zoldyck!" Zushi apologized before beginning to count loudly while purposefully avoiding Gon's eyes.

Gon snickered before leaning over to offer an apology to the shorter boy. It only made Zushi's cheeks flush harder.

"Hey, Gon, are _you_ counting?" Killua asked only because he could. And maybe also because he felt a _little_ bad for yelling at Zushi, even if it had made him feel better.

"Sorry, Captain Zoldyck!" Gon said before he joined the counting for the last two seconds.

At the end of the count, Killua stood up, signaling the rest of the team to do the same.

"Yeah, well, be sorry while you do 15 pushups," Killua demanded.

"Sure," Gon agreed as he quickly brought himself back down to the ground. "You're gonna watch, right?" The hopefulness in his voice was more amusing than embarrassing to Killua's relief.

He was about to answer when Bisky decided to butt in that way she often did when Killua wasn't doing something to her liking.

"Killua! Stop abusing your power!" Bisky snapped as she came over to where the team was waiting around for Killua's next instructions.

"I'm not!" Killua argued.

Bisky glared. Killua attempted to hold his ground. It ended the way it usually did.

"Do 15 pushups, Killua. Everyone else get ready to run drills," Bisky said before turning away from him and blowing her whistle.

Killua got down on the ground to do his push-up across from Gon.

"Is she always like that?" Gon asked as the boys began doing their pushups together.

"Pretty much, only normally she won't make you do less than 20," Killua explained.

Gon hummed happily, obviously unbothered by the threat of pushups.

"I've been meaning to tell you, your hair is really cool," Gon said out of the blue during push-up number five.

Killua couldn't help the way his eyebrows scrunched together. He was prepared for Gon to say something suggestive, but his innocent comment threw him off. He wondered if there was some way what he said could be twisted into something dirty? He didn't see how, so he decided answer back just as innocently.

"Thanks. I dye it silver to piss off my parents," Killua said honestly. If Gon reacted like most people he would laugh, perhaps awkwardly in that way people did when they weren't sure if Killua was serious.

"Both of them?" Gon asked, causing Killua to snort.

"You know, most people just laugh when I say that," Killua said.

"Yeah, but you're serious, right?" Gon asked as they finished pushup 10.

"Mm, yeah, I am. I kind of hate them. But I guess my hair really only makes Mom mad. Dad's already gone white, so he'd just be complaining that I look like him," Killua explained.

This time Gon did laugh, and Killua couldn't help the smile that automatically appeared on his face at the sound. There was something about that laugh that demanded it be admired.

"I can't imagine anyone looking like you," Gon said, his tone only revealing total honestly.

"Why? Can't imagine anyone looking this good?" Killua asked as he finished his last push-up.

Gon hopped up, looking no less energetic after doing 15 pushups.

"You caught me," Gon said easily. "You're probably the prettiest person I've ever seen."

Killua scoffed as he crossed his arms behind his head and turned away from Gon to hide his blush. "Please, look in a mirror. You're like a personification of sunlight, you idiot."

Gon grinned as he jogged to get into step next to Killua.

"You know, most people don't seduce other people by calling them idiots," Gon pointed out teasingly.

"Yeah, well, I think you're the type who likes someone being a little mean to you," Killua defended, although really he just couldn't help it. He _was_ a little mean. Not to mention calling Gon an idiot already somehow felt like second nature.

After a beat of silence Killua looked over only to see Gon blushing. He instantly broke out into laughter.

"Really?" Killua asked.

"Just a little," Gon admitted. "Not like I'm a masochist or anything. But… I don't mind someone calling me out. I don't really listen to other people well. So it's kind of nice when someone is a little mean. It gets my attention, I guess."

"You're really weird," Killua said before shaking his head. "I can't believe I'm going to have you wrapped around my little finger before practice is over."

Gon grinned. "That'll be nice since you're obviously already wrapped around mine."

Killua scoffed, ignoring the heat in his face. He refused to admit that there was any truth to that statement. He hadn't even known Gon for a full day; there was no way he was wrapped around any of his fingers.

Still, there was something about Gon that made Killua want to follow him. And luckily he had an excuse to do so, since the other boy had taken off toward the rest of the team.


	6. Chapter 6

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 6**

 **Author's Note: And I'm back again with our longest chapter yet! Let me know what you think of it! And fun fact, this fic is 10 chapters long (which I should have mentioned earlier).**

* * *

Once they'd reached the rest of the team Bisky threw a ball at Killua, not looking the least bit surprised when he bounced it off of his chest and began juggling it between his two feet.

"Hurry up and join in on the passing drill," Bisky demanded.

"Yes, Bisky!" They replied in unison.

At the moment the team was split into pairs of two, each passing the ball back and forth to each other. Killua ran to the farther side of the green field, dribbling the ball as he went. When he turned around Gon was waiting for the ball to be passed to him.

For fifteen minutes they passed the ball back and forth. Killua knew they were too far away for them to say much to each other without getting in trouble with Bisky. So instead of seducing Gon with his words, he decided to do it with his soccer skills, which really should have been the plan to begin with.

He had started off with simple straight kicks that Gon returned to him with little effort. However, the longer they passed the ball between them the more intricate Killua's footwork got. He began adding in little spins and kicking the ball into the air before kicking it straight to Gon.

He might have been worried about Bisky getting mad at him if his kicks weren't so accurate.

On Gon's side of the field things weren't much different. The moment that Killua began showing off Gon began displaying his own impressive footwork.

It was almost frustrating how good Gon was. It definitely would have been had Killua not been so excited by the idea of playing with him. Based on the way Gon was grinning at Killua's every move, he wasn't the only one who was excited by the idea.

When Gon sent the ball back to Killua after having bounced it off his head before kicking it, Killua decided it was time to pull out the big guns. When the ball came to him, Killua kicked it high up into the air before spinning around and then delivering a powerful bicycle kick.

Killua's view of Gon receiving the ball was upside down, but that didn't stop him from seeing the way the ball sailed straight to his waiting feet. Right as the ball connected with Gon, Bisky's whistle sounded.

"Okay, next drill!" Bisky called as she motioned toward an area of the field where she had set up orange cones.

Gon halted kicking the ball and waited for Killua to jog over to him before bumping their shoulders together.

"That kick was amazing! I can't wait to see you do that on the field!" Gon chattered excitedly.

Killua couldn't help the pride that washed over him. He'd always loved compliments, especially when they came from someone he knew was good at what they were complimenting him for.

"You sound surprised. What? Did you think that flexibility was just for show?" Killua asked teasingly.

"I hoped it wasn't," Gon said before leaning over closer. "But if it had been, I couldn't have complained. It was a damn good show."

Hearing Gon curse sent a shiver down Killua's spine. He barely knew the other boy, but he could tell cursing was reserved for certain special occasions. Apparently whispering to Killua about liking how he looked with his legs spread wide open and chin on the ground was one of them. Somehow it made Killua feel both smug and embarrassed.

Killua smirked before spinning to stand in front of Gon. He then leaned even closer to Gon so that their lips almost touched. "Please, that was just act one."

Gon licked his lips, making the distance between them even smaller. Two, maybe three centimeters would be all it would take for Gon's tongue to touch Killua's mouth. Killua fought the urge to lick his own lips.

"Show me act two, then," Gon demanded, enunciating each word in a way that made it impossible for Killua not to stare at his lips with each syllable he spoke.

Gon then sidestepped Killua to join one of two lines that had formed in front of the orange cones. Killua's only choice was to walk over and choose a line to stand in. After only a moment's hesitation he moved to stand behind Gon.

"Okay, you all know the drill! Take the ball through the cones and then turn around and come back. Go as fast as you can, but don't sacrifice accuracy!" Bisky reminded the group before once again blowing her whistle. Sometimes Killua dreamed of the whistle's shrill cry.

As the people in front of Killua in line ran the drill Killua tried to think of what his next move should be. He knew he was supposed to somehow up his game, but he had no idea how to do so. He'd already done everything he could think to do. He'd flirted and shown off, he'd acted as a friend, and he'd even said some pretty risqué things—what else was there? What was left?

For a moment he was brought out of his thoughts as he watched a first time player in the other line struggle to take the ball through the cones without stopping. Killua couldn't help cringing as he watched. He knew it was embarrassing to not be able to do something that the people in front of you had done easily.

But despite being a year ahead of Killua in school, Zepile was playing soccer for the first time ever on an actual team. He hadn't been taught yet how to juggle the ball gracefully. Had the team not suffered a massive loss the year before with the graduation of ten players, Zepile would have never made it past tryouts without being cut. But as it was, Bisky hadn't even held tryouts because the team was so small.

That meant Killua had a responsibility to whip Zepile into shape.

Also, he just kind of liked the guy and wanted him to do well.

"Yo, Zepile!" Killua called as the other male headed to the back of his line. Upon hearing Killua's voice he changed directions and ran over to the team captain.

"What's up?" Zepile asked, sounding excited but a little out of breath.

"Remember what we talked about last practice with your feet?" Killua asked.

"Yeah! Kick with the insides of my feet, not with my toes," Zepile summarized back to him.

"Right, but now you're kicking too far back on your foot," Killua explained as he lifted up his foot to show Zepile. "You want to be kicking right here. With where you're kicking now you look like you're hopping from foot to foot to juggle the ball. Obviously you don't want to do that. Your movements have to be fluid so you can keep control of the ball."

Killua didn't have a ball but he mimicked having one as he showed Zepile how his legs and feet should look when he was kicking.

Zepile nodded enthusiastically. "Okay, no problem! I can do that!"

"I know you can," Killua said before waving him back to his own line. "And if it turns out you can't, I've always wanted my own personal water boy."

Zepile laughed before going back to his line, choosing not to reply to Killua's comment.

When Killua turned back to the front of his advancing line he saw Gon looking at him inquisitively.

"What? Did you want to be my personal water boy?" Killua asked impishly. He wished he knew what the look Gon was giving him meant.

Upon being caught staring Gon let out a soft laugh. "I would never give you my personal service for something so boring."

"Well, I can think of some things you can do for me personally that would be more exciting if you'd like," Killua suggested, trying to make his voice sound husky and sexy. He had no idea if he'd succeeded.

Gon was quick to reply back, demanding, "And what would you do for me?"

"What wouldn't I do? I'm wrapped around your little finger, remember?" Killua asked, using Gon's own words against him.

"So you'd just do whatever I wanted?" Gon asked, seeming genuinely curious.

Looking at Gon's amber eyes, freckled nose, and stunning smile, Killua's first instinct was to answer that of course he would. He'd just need Gon to say the word. But quickly Killua shook the thought out of his head. He had to keep reminding himself that he'd only known Gon for a day. It was far too early to pledge eternal servitude.

Really, it was always too early to pledge eternal servitude.

"Of course not, but you'd always have my attention," Killua said before leaning close to whisper into Gon's ear. "It's just that sometimes I'd give you what you wanted, you know, talk really sweet to you or say the dirty things you like, get really close to you. But other times I'd be a little mean to you. Tell you no just because I can. Do things just to make you squirm. But then you'd like that too, wouldn't you?"

Killua was shocked when he pulled away and saw Gon's bronzed cheeks flushed red. He couldn't believe that something he'd said had done that. It hadn't even been dirty compared to the things Gon had said earlier.

Still, Gon's face was red in a way that pleased Killua. He wanted nothing more than to tease Gon and keep his cheeks that color. Unfortunately while he'd been admiring his handiwork, Gon had been making a quick recovery. He apparently didn't take as long to cool down as Killua did.

"I would like that," Gon confessed with a small smile.

Gon then moved closer, seeming to pick up confidence as he leaned in to whisper in Killua's ear, their faces so close that they brushed cheeks as Gon leaned in.

"I'd also like to do the same to you," Gon said, his hot breath against Killua's ear almost causing him to shudder. "I want to see Killua squirm." With his last two words, Gon's lips grazed against Killua's ear.

Killua _groaned_ , and not in a metaphorical sense. He couldn't help the sound that left his mouth when Gon's lips, soft and warm, had touched his ear while saying his name.

Killua pulled away with a jerk only to meet Gon's delighted face. He quickly turned his head the other direction, his face hot and his eyes full of shame. That shame didn't leave him when he saw people in the line next to him staring in confusion.

"What?" Killua snapped, daring any of them to keep looking.

Luckily the other players knew him well enough to avert their gazes and not ask any questions.

"You're so cute, Killua." The way Gon said it with so much affection forced Killua to face him again despite his humiliation.

"You are the weirdest person I've ever met! Seriously, how do you say that stuff without getting embarrassed?" Killua had to ask. He didn't think he could even continue his lame attempt at seduction without an answer.

Gon laughed like Killua had just asked him something ridiculously simple.

"It's not embarrassing if it's the truth," Gon said, giving Killua a grin that was far too genuine considering all of the things that he had said to Killua within a half hour that were apparently true.

"Unbelievable," Killua muttered to himself unable to even reply to Gon.

The other boy seemed to understand that as he faced the front of the line. Killua watched as Pokkle, the last person in front of Gon in line, began taking the ball through the cones.

"You'll still watch me, right?" Gon asked, craning his neck back to see Killua, tone somehow teasing and insistent.

Killua scoffed. "I'm the captain; of course I'm going to watch you," Killua said despite having not watched most of the players run the drill.

Gon frowned at that, not looking at all satisfied with the answer. Killua relented quickly.

"I'm also going to stare at your thighs some more, don't worry," Killua said while rolling his eyes.

"My butt, too?" Gon asked, as though the thought of his ass being left out of the equation hurt his feelings.

' _For fucks sake, just kill me,_ ' Killua thought as his cheeks heated up again.

"Yeah, your ass, too. Do a good job and I might even slap it 'good game.'"

Killua almost immediately regretted his words as Gon's face lit up, looking beyond ecstatic at the prospect of having Killua slap his ass.

A second later Pokkle handed the ball off to Gon who took off swiftly, maneuvering it through the cones as though it was simply an extension of his legs. He really was great.

His ass was great, too. It had a strong curve to it, while still looking muscular. Killua would actually really like to smack what looked to be firm cheeks if he didn't know it would somehow result in Gon embarrassing him.

He wasn't sure why, but he knew he would leave such a situation with his face stained red.

Fuck though, it might be worth it. Gon really did have a perfect ass.

It didn't take long for Gon to make his way back through the cones to pass the ball to Killua, a confident smile lighting up his features. And it wasn't just because of what Killua had said. It was because Gon knew he was good at what he was doing. He was a different brand of arrogant than Killua was, but he was still noticeably cocky.

That probably shouldn't have made Killua like him more, but it definitely did.

Killua kicked the ball through the cones swiftly with the ease of someone who had spent years practicing. He had no doubt that if they were being timed, he would have bested everyone.

After passing the ball to Goreinu, Killua jogged to the back of his line where Gon was waiting for him with a grin on his face.

"You're really fast, Killua," Gon complimented.

"Thanks, you weren't too bad yourself," Killua said before patting Gon's ass as quickly and casually as he could manage.

Gon laughed at the action, leaning into Killua's side as he did so, ignoring the way that the silver haired boy tensed.

"You really are cute, Killua," Gon said, still leaning against Killua, as he looked up at him with affectionate brown eyes.

Killua blushed, but somehow managed to roll his eyes before hooking an arm around Gon's waist.

"You know you saying that wouldn't embarrass me so much if _you_ ," Killua paused for a second to tap Gon's nose. "Weren't so cute."

Gon fucking _beamed_ , like Killua had just given him the world's best compliment. Gon's smile was wide enough that Killua thought he could probably count every tooth in his mouth, not that he would want to. Not when Gon had two dimples to stare at.

Killua had plans to stare at those two dimples for at least 15 more seconds before the sound of a whistle made his neck snap around to face the sound.

Bisky was on the other end of the whistle and she somehow looked displeased while also looking mildly amused.

"Killua, Gon, 50 pushups each!" Bisky demanded, and before Killua could argue she added, "You know why."

And he did. He'd been focusing on Gon and not the drills, and while Bisky was old she hadn't started losing her vision yet. She'd obviously noticed that he and Gon were screwing around and not watching their teammates. In his defense though, Gon was much better looking than any of his other teammates.

"Yes, Bisky!" Gon called before dropping straight to the ground to begin his push-ups. Killua followed a second later after moving out of the line to do his pushups next to Gon.

"You know, you're making it hard for me to make a good impression," Gon said in a way that made it unclear to Killua whether he was genuinely complaining or not.

" _I'm_ making it hard? You started this," Killua hissed as he spied the line in front of them. He thought they should have time to finish their pushups before it was their turn again.

"No, you did. If you had just tried to seduce me like Leorio asked you to and not told me about it, then I wouldn't have given you a time limit, and we could have spread out the flirting." Gon explained seriously.

Killua gaped at his logic. Gon was beautiful, but his reasoning skills left something to be desired in Killua's opinion. Was he seriously upset that Killua hadn't been secretly trying to seduce him?

"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry for not beginning our relationship by lying about my intentions. How _wrong_ of me," Killua said sarcastically.

"It wouldn't have been lying, though! Because even if you didn't tell me why you were flirting with me, you still would have been having fun and would have been glad you were doing it," Gon reasoned (if it could be called that).

Killua scoffed as his cheeks reddened slightly. "Who says I'm having fun flirting with you now? Especially since you've been getting me in trouble. You know how long it's been since I've gotten called out during practice?"

Killua had in fact gotten called out during practice two days prior when he and Ikalgo had decided to use their water bottles to drench each other mid practice game, but Gon didn't need to know that.

"I'm guessing not very long. You're obviously a troublemaker, Killua," Gon said in a voice that made it sound like Gon found such a characteristic endearing.

"I-I'm team captain!" Killua sputtered as though that would somehow make Gon believe that Bisky wasn't constantly making him do pushups during practice.

"Your team's not surprised you're doing pushups," Gon pointed out.

Killua was shocked that Gon was observant enough to know that, because while the push-ups weren't surprising anyone, his interactions with Gon certainly were. Killua knew what was causing his teammates to send lingering glances his way because it obviously wasn't the common occurrence of getting told to do pushups. But Gon somehow just seemed to know the looks weren't related to getting in trouble.

"Shut up," Killua snapped before almost regretting it. He really wasn't very good at seduction.

For a few moments there was silence between the boys before Killua decided that it was as good a time as any to show off a bit more. If nothing else, Killua knew his strengths.

Casually, as though he was not purely doing it to impress Gon, Killua began doing one handed pushups.

It seemed that was enough to capture the other boy's attention, as a smile slid onto his face. A second later Gon was doing one handed pushups beside Killua, matching his pace.

Killua admired the way the muscles bulged in Gon's arm as he lifted himself. Damn, he had nice arms. But Killua didn't let the well-formed muscles distract him for long. His goal wasn't to ogle Gon, it was to get Gon to ogle _him_. Or at the very least be impressed by him. He'd be happy with either.

None to subtlety, Killua began propelling himself faster. He waited to see if Gon would try to match him.

Almost immediately Gon was moving just as quickly as Killua, a grin on his face. He obviously enjoyed the challenge.

"Can you do this?" Gon asked before bringing his other arm down, only to clap his hands together once he'd pushed his body up. He then landed on his hands with his body at the lowest position in the pushup.

Killua scoffed. Of course he could do clapping pushups! To prove his point, he began doing them beside Gon at an even faster speed. Gon promptly quickened his pace.

"Are we racing now?" Gon asked, sounding smug and happy.

"Only if you want to lose," Killua teased.

"Oh, I can't lose," Gon said, sounding dangerously serious.

"And why is that?" Killua asked.

"I lost count a long time ago," Gon confessed.

Killua erupted into laughter. He'd say he couldn't believe Gon, but Killua was already realizing that everything Gon did was strange, ridiculous, or overly earnest.

Killua was grinning when he told Gon, "That means you've already lost, idiot."

"Mm, I disagree," Gon said easily as Killua rolled his eyes. "Also, is idiot like your pet-name for me? Because it's not what I would have chosen, but you do sound really affectionate when you say it, and I like that."

Killua felt a slight heat rise to his cheeks at Gon's words. Was it a pet-name? He hadn't meant for it to be. He definitely called other people idiots. It was just that Gon was a special kind of idiot that somehow managed to pull endearment into the word when Killua said it to him.

"Maybe it is. But I can try something else if you prefer. What kind of pet-names do you like? Darling, sweetheart, Honeybunches of Oats?"

Gon fell down in a fit of laughter, his right cheek lying flush with the grass. Killua couldn't help smiling down as he looked at the way Gon's skin shone in the sun, looking especially beautiful against the green grassy backdrop.

He was so caught up in staring at Gon that he was completely off guard when Gon pushed his arm out from under him. Killua fell to the ground, his face hitting grass, which only made Gon laugh harder.

"Call me an idiot all you want, but don't call me cereal names," Gon said as he poked Killua's head.

Killua recovered quickly, only to grab hold of one of Gon's cheeks.

"Oh, so I can't call you my little fruit loop? How about my lucky charm?" Killua asked, squeezing Gon's cheek perhaps a little harder than necessary.

"Killua, stop!" Gon whined. "Those are all terrible and you know it!"

Killua couldn't help laughing at Gon's discomfort. However, the laughter was short lived as a woman in a pink dress came up beside him and grabbed hold of his ear with far more pressure than what he was using on Gon's cheek.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Bisky asked as she pulled Killua by his ear until he was standing.

"Ow! Bisky! Cut it out, you old hag!" Killua whined, unable to free his ear from the iron like grip.

"Don't call me a hag, you little brat!" Bisky hissed. "Do you know how many pushups you just did?"

Killua opened his mouth to answer before realizing he didn't have an answer. Sometime after he'd laughed at Gon for losing count, _he'd_ lost count.

 _Shit._

"I was on 47," Killua lied convincingly. Had he been talking to anyone but his soccer coach, he may have been able to convince them. Unfortunately, Bisky had been lying since long before Killua had been conceived and was therefore immune to even his most believable lies.

"You did 76, Killua," Bisky said, pulling hard on Killua's ear in punishment for lying. "I counted."

"Killua! You didn't tell me you lost count, too!" Gon yelled as he flew up off the ground and into Killua's personal space.

A second later Gon was pulled out of Killua's personal space by his ear.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Gon whimpered as Bisky pulled at his ear with the hand that wasn't currently tugging at Killua's.

"Let me make myself clear. This is my time, and during my time we practice," Bisky told both of the boys before pulling them in even closer. "And part of practicing is concentrating. So if you aren't concentrating well enough to keep count of your push-ups, I'll just have you do them until moving your arms is the only thought left in your heads."

Upon finishing her speech, Bisky released their ears and then let out a girlish giggle.

"Of course I know that's not necessary for my team captain and the new player trying to impress me," Bisky said in a sickening sweet voice before shooting the boys a death glare. " _Right_?"

"Yes, Bisky!" Both boys called in unison.

"Good!" Bisky said, a large smile appearing on her face as she clapped her hands together. "Now you boys can spend the rest of this drill running laps!"

Killua didn't bother holding back his groan even as he turned to begin running.

"Yes, Bisky!" Gon agreed before joining Killua for their laps.

"Don't go slow, either!" Bisky yelled after them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 7**

 **Author's Note: Oh, wow, guys. We are so close to the end! For your fun fact (which I am totally not running out of *wink*), originally one of Killua's many extra curricular activities included being president of the LGBT+ club. It was something he and Ikalgo referenced often as Ikalgo tried to convince Killua to seduce Gon (who's sexuality was unclear). I ended up scrapping it since Gon's interest in men came up so early.  
**

 **Anyway, read on, and please let me know what you think!**

* * *

"I hate that woman," Killua muttered to Gon under his breath.

"Do you think I've already ruined my chance at making a good impression?" Gon asked, looking overly serious.

Killua couldn't help the gentle smile that snuck onto his face. It was good that Gon cared. Killua could already tell that Gon was going to be good on the field, but that wouldn't mean anything if he wasn't committed. The fact that he was worried about Bisky's opinion and not cursing her punishments meant that he was going to be a committed player.

"You've already made a good impression, Idiot. You had Bisky from the moment you called her Coach Krueger," Killua said as they rounded the corner of the field together. "And even if you hadn't, she'd trust my judgement on you. One of the many benefits of being the captain."

"Oh, is it? " Gon asked in a way that made Killua question if Gon truly believed him. But Gon spoke again before Killua could bring it up. "So that means you'd tell her I had your approval?"

"Oh, I'd tell her more than that about you, babe," Killua said suggestively. "By the way, how do you feel about being called babe?"

Gon laughed, his head falling back and exposing his tan neck to the sun. "It's not the most creative, but I like the way your voice gets kind of low when you say it. It sounds _sexy_."

Even though Gon's tone was at least partially teasing, Killua's face flushed lightly. Even Gon jokingly calling him sexy was enough to get his heart beating faster.

"Yeah? Well, I'm a pretty sexy guy, especially when someone as cute as you is around," Killua said as nonchalantly as he could manage.

"Mm, so Leorio wasn't lying when he said you knew handle cute boys?" Gon asked, a small smirk on his face that Killua found both mischievous and cute.

"The old man may have been a little too excited about what he was saying, but he wasn't lying. Besides," Killua offered up a smirk of his own. "I'm handling you, aren't I?"

The smile on Gon's face only broadened. "I can't say that yet, but you are doing way better than I expected you to do."

"Trust me, you'll be saying it before practice is over," Killua said stubbornly.

Gon laughed in response before glancing at Killua from the side of his eyes. Their eyes had barely met before Gon took off at a faster speed, silently challenging Killua to keep up. Immediately Killua was running at his side at top speed.

Their race continued for five laps, each of them pumping their legs and arms as fast as they could go. In the end, it was only Bisky's whistle that brought them to a stop, both still in step with each other.

"Okay, that's enough! Take a water break!" Bisky called, taking a moment to look over at Killua and Gon to make sure they were listening.

Killua nodded to Bisky before stretching his arms up behind his head. "Looks like we're about to get to the fun part."

"Mm, you weren't already having fun?" Gon questioned.

"Even more fun, babe," Killua corrected before he took off at a jog, arms still behind his head, toward his water jug.

Once Killua had reached his jug he tipped his head back and took a long drink. He'd been so concerned with Gon that he hadn't even realized that he was thirsty.

Well, he _had_ realized he was _thirsty_ , but it was a totally different kind of thirst. The kind of thirst that was inspired by a golden boy's eyes being on him.

His current thirst was because of sweat. It was a good thing that Bisky was there to remind him to take a drink. Killua was sure that Gon had to power to distract him until he was dehydrated.

Speaking of Gon, the tan boy walked up beside Killua, his facial expression giving away that he was about to say something that would embarrass Killua. Said boy tried to steady himself.

"Do you mind if I share with you? I guess I did forget one of my soccer things after all," Gon said sheepishly.

Killua could feel his shoulders drop as he relaxed. Sharing his water bottle was hardly something to get worked up about.

"Sure, I can't seduce you if you pass out from dehydration," Killua said before handing Gon his water jug and wiping his chin with his free hand.

Once the jug was in Gon's hand, he stared down at the spout for a moment before looking at Killua intensely.

"You know, this is kind of like an indirect kiss."

Killua's face couldn't have been redder if he'd spent a week sitting at the beach sans sunscreen.

For a moment Killua sputtered before finally gathering his bearings and replying, "Idiot, plenty of people share. It's nothing like that."

Gon chuckled and Killua put his hand over his face. That was not the response of someone who was trying to be seductive. Why couldn't Killua just stay focused? Well, it sure didn't help that one minute Gon was flirting with him and then the next acting like he wanted to be best friends. How the hell was he supposed to switch back and forth?

"If you say so," Gon said, obviously not agreeing, before wrapping his lips around the spout of Killua's water bottle and taking a drink, although in Killua's opinion it was more than that.

In fact, watching Gon take a drink was like a sexual experience. His head was leaned back, showcasing his tanned neck and bulging Adam's apple. As Gon drank the lump in his neck moved up in down in what Killua could swear was the rhythm of his own heart. Beyond that there was the single bead of sweat that was cascading down Gon's neck. Oh, how Killua wanted to lap up that sweat. And fuck if that wasn't gross. Still, he wanted to do it.

"So, are you a good kisser, Killua?" Gon asked after he'd lowered Killua's water bottle from his soft looking lips.

Once again Killua was caught off guard.

" _What_?" Killua asked before he could stop himself.

Gon took a step forward, bringing his face mere inches away from Killua's.

"I asked if you were a good kisser, Killua."

If Killua wasn't in the incredible shape that he was, he was certain that he would have had a heart attack and died on the spot. Was he a good _kisser_? How could Gon ask that? How was he so bold?!

Amber eyes stared at Killua, practically glittering with mirth as he awaited Killua's answer. Really, there was only one answer Killua could give, even if it wasn't entirely honest.

Or honest at all.

"Psh, yeah! Of course I am!" It was a lie, and the way Killua turned his chin up in defiance as he crossed his arms totally gave that away before his tone had the chance.

"Really?" The smile that followed the question was so wide that it looked painful.

Killua scowled as a blush took over his face. He would rather die than admit the truth— that he'd never kissed anyone. At almost 17 years old Killua would have felt at least _slightly_ insecure telling anyone that he had never kissed anyone, but telling Gon was different. Gon was beautiful and cocky, and Killua had been flirting with him like he could keep up. Admitting the truth was surely the same as forfeiting the game they were playing.

"'Course," Killua lied, still not looking Gon in the eye.

Gon laughed softly as he leaned his head forward to rest his forehead against Killua's shoulder. The pale boy immediately tensed at the contact, not knowing how to react to the touch.

"You're a liar, Killua," Gon stated simply, turning his head and shooting Killua one of the most affectionate looks he had ever received from another person.

Tingles instantly shot down Killua's spine in response, despite Gon's words. The feeling was so good Killua forgot to think of a response.

"It's okay if you've never kissed anyone. You don't have to be embarrassed," Gon said, insuring that Killua _was_ embarrassed.

"Yeah, well, what about you? Are _you_ a good kisser?" Killua asked, attempting to take the attention off of himself.

Gon lifted his head from Killua's shoulder, taking away the spiky hair that had been gently tickling Killua's neck, and making the taller boy regret ever posing the question.

"I've had good feedback," Gon said, looking overly pleased with himself. "Maybe someday I'll teach you."

Gon's smugness immediately brought Killua's irritation to the surface, extinguishing both his embarrassment and his warm feelings toward Gon, at least momentarily. Luckily it also served to revitalize Killua's competitiveness.

"I think you'll be pleased with how fast I catch on," Killua said before taking the water bottle from Gon's right hand, making sure the his fingers had plenty of contact with Gon's.

He then brought the spout of the bottle up to his lips before proceeding to let his tongue run over it in what could only be described as a sexual manner. Had Killua been thinking about it, he would have been at least a little disgusted with himself. After all, he was pretty much just lapping up Gon's leftover spit. But he wasn't thinking about the logistics of his actions. He was only thinking about winning, which meant seducing Gon. And seducing Gon meant licking at a waterspout that had previously been in said boy's mouth.

After his tongue had thoroughly explored the spout, Killua took hold of it in his mouth and took a long drink, tipping his head back in an attempt to copy the pose Gon had looked so good in earlier. When he finished his drink he looked down at Gon with heavy lidded eyes, hoping that he had accomplished something.

The look Gon was giving said that he had. The dark haired boy had a slight pink hue to his cheeks, and his eyes were wide as though he was impressed. Killua was also proud to note that Gon's pupils had practically blacked out the brown of his eyes.

"Not to mention, by your logic, you've already kissed me, and I just kissed you back," Killua declared as he shoved the bottle back at Gon. "And no offence, but I think I did a better job."

After finishing his sentence, Killua proceeded to spin around, hands going up to link behind his head before he happily approached the spot where Bisky had other players surrounding her.

He'd only made it a few steps before Gon was beside him again, walking closer than what was necessary and smiling like he'd been the one who'd just bested Killua instead of the other way around.

The two of them were among the last to join Bisky's circle, and once they were all surrounding her she began to speak.

"All right! I'm going to split you up into teams so that we can do a little scrimmaging! Stay still while I do that or the whole team will be doing pushups!" Bisky yelled, holding up mesh green and white tank tops that would signify teams.

Upon Bisky's words the entire team froze, as though trying not to breathe until she had made the teams. Bisky quickly went through the players assigning positions. When she reached where Killua and Gon were standing she assigned Killua to the right side of midfield on the green team before turning to Gon.

"Okay, Gon, I'm going to let you try out playing midfield on the left side of the green team. I'd let you try central, but since we have a limited number of players, we only scrimmage with a left and right midfielder," Bisky told the boy, who immediately began giving enthusiastic nods. She then looked past the boys to another player. "Shoot, can you come here for a second?"

Within a few seconds Shoot was standing next to Killua, looking forlorn in a way that was very typical for him.

"Is something wrong?" Shoot asked, looking between Bisky and Killua.

"The opposite! I'm putting you on offense for the green team," Bisky said excitedly before grabbing Gon's shoulders and pushing him to stand in front of Shoot. "Gon says he wants to play midfield, so we're going to see if he's up to the challenge! If he is then I'm going to officially move you to offense. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," Shoot said, offering Bisky one of his rare smiles.

"Good! Then don't be afraid to keep an eye on him and let him know when he's screwing up!" Bisky said sweetly before shoving tank tops at them and then moving on to the next player.

"What? I can't be trusted to watch a new player now?" Killua asked to Bisky's back as he pulled the tank top over his head. He wasn't surprised when she pretended not to hear him.

Shoot, on the other hand, decided to respond, "I think she asked me because you're watching too much."

Killua's mouth fell open in shock before turning to level a glare at Shoot.

"Just saying," Shoot said with a shrug before turning to Gon. "Good luck."

Shoot then walked back over to the spot he had originally been standing in, completely ignoring Killua's frustration. Of course it wasn't surprising. Shoot was just that kind of guy. He said his piece and then didn't bother to say anything else. Had Shoot been more outspoken he might have been team captain, especially being Killua's senior by a year. But as it was, Shoot had little to no interest in anyone else. Well, unless you counted his interest in fighting with Knuckle, but that was a different story.

"He makes a good point; are you going to be able to concentrate on the game with me around?" Gon asked teasingly as he purposefully leaned in too close to Killua's ear, having put on his own tank top during Killua's short exchange with Shoot.

Killua turned his glare toward Gon, but upon seeing his cheeky looking expression, his features softened into a smirk. There was no reason to be angry with Gon when he could simply compete with him.

"Don't worry, baby, I won't let you lose your first scrimmage," Killua promised as he casually put his arms around Gon's neck. "Leorio failed to mention that I can handle cute boys and soccer balls at the same time."

Gon beamed at the attention and settled his own arms around Killua's waist, making it look like the two boys were about to start slow dancing on the soccer field.

"Boys, huh? Is there someone else you're trying to seduce?" Gon asked.

"Why? Would it make you jealous?" Killua teased as he ran a hand through Gon's spiky hair.

Gon's arms tightened around Killua's waist slightly before he answered.

"Mm, yeah. I wouldn't like it if you were flirting with someone else when you could be flirting with me," Gon said without the smallest hint of shame.

Killua let out a small laugh. "So even though I haven't seduced you yet, I'm not allowed to flirt with anyone else?"

Gon smiled. "Why would you want to?"

Killua was going to comment on Gon's conceitedness, but the shorter boy spoke again before he could.

"Besides, I won't flirt with anyone else while I'm still waiting to see if you can seduce me. So it's only fair that you don't either," Gon explained.

"So what happens after I seduce you?" Killua asked, only to have Bisky's whistle blow before Gon could respond.

All of the players' heads shot toward where Bisky was standing.

"Okay! I've assigned everyone's positions!" Bisky declared, an evil glint in her eye that Killua had learned to recognize over the years. "As usual I've got Palm as one of the goalies!"

As usual there were some grumblings, despite the fact that Palm playing goalie was a given. Palm was the best goalie the team had, as she was practically impossible to score against. She seemed to always know which direction someone was going to kick the ball and was able to anticipate exactly where to move.

Palm's only exploitable weakness was that she was easily frustrated and could lose her concentration with enough trash talking. Unfortunately, frustrating Palm came at a cost. Killua had watched Palm earn herself a red card his first year on the team after breaking some guy's nose. Apparently he'd called Palm's boyfriend at the time ugly.

Needless to say, most players preferred not scoring to risking Palm's fury.

"And since I want Ikalgo to get more practice playing defense, I'm going to be the other goalie!" Bisky announced.

Immediately the whole team groaned. Killua even untangled himself from Gon so that he could face Bisky as he cursed her under his breath.

"Why is everyone upset?" Gon whispered to Killua as he looked around at the team. At least three people looked ready to attack Ikalgo, Zushi had dropped his head to say a prayer, and Meleoron's face was in his hands where it looked like he might be crying.

"Because Bisky was an Olympic soccer player and anytime she joins the scrimmage the team she's not on gets killed. You know how embarrassing it is when the other team's _goalie_ scores?" Killua complained.

Instead of looking frustrated like the rest of the team, Gon's face transformed into one of determination. Killua groaned. Of course Gon was excited for the challenge. Killua was about to call Gon an idiot when Bisky's laughter rang through the air.

"Oh, I'm just kidding! I put Goreinu in the other goal!" Bisky said looking far too amused for someone who had just upset her entire team. Well, all of them but Gon. "Now get into position before I change my mind."

The entire team scurried to their positions on the field, Killua pulling Gon behind him to assure that he didn't try to convince Bisky to play. Thankfully Gon didn't argue.

Once everyone was in position, Bisky walked to the middle of the field to stand between Shoot and Knuckle, the two offenders who would have the first chance at getting the ball.

Killua watched closely with laser focus as Bisky held the ball in her hands between the two players. When she blew her whistle she dropped the ball between them. For a few seconds it was unclear who would get possession of the ball, but Shoot managed to take the ball and send it down the field to Zepile.

Zepile moved down the field clumsily, his ball control still needing work. Killua was quick to get into passing position.

"Hey, send it here!" Killua called as Meleoron snuck up behind Zepile.

Zepile was just barely able to kick the ball away before Meleoron could take it. The pass wasn't perfect, actually it could just barely be considered a pass, but Killua managed to get to the ball before anyone else.

He then kicked the ball down the field, juggling it around the other team's midfielder. He managed to make it most of the way down the field before Zushi came to block him. Killua spent a moment trying to kick the ball around Zushi, but upon seeing Shoot open near the goal, Killua passed to him.

Once Shoot had control of the ball, he took the shot, the ball just barely soaring into the goal past Goreinu's fingertips.

There was little time to celebrate as Bisky blew her whistle to make sure the team kept moving.

The ball made its way up and down the field, moving from player to player before Killua finally watched the ball get taken in by Gon near their team's goal. Killua stayed even with Gon on the pitch as the other boy ran down the field, kicking around other players as simply as he had the cones from the practice drill.

Gon had managed to get the ball clear down to the other team's defenders before Amane managed to trip him up. Off of the field she seemed overly anxious, but on it she was at ease. Killua watched the two of them going back and forth with the ball, both struggling to get the upper hand.

As they fought for possession, Killua scanned the field. Gon had another defender coming to take the ball from him, meanwhile Pokkle stood wide open, waving his arms at Gon.

"Hey, Idiot, pass the ball before you lose it!" Killua called across the field.

Gon's chin perked up at the scream, an indication that he'd heard Killua. A few seconds later Gon sent the ball to Pokkle, who was able to fire off a shot toward Goreinu. The goalie managed to catch the ball, throwing it to Zushi, who lost the ball a few seconds later to Shoot. Shoot then managed to make the shot.

"Sorry, Killua! I was in the zone!" Gon yelled across the field as the game continued to move.

"You're just lucky I'm here paying attention to you!" Killua yelled back, happy with the smile his words brought to Gon's face.

The practice game went on like that for a while. The longer the teams played, the more obvious it became that the teams weren't evenly matched. Killua's team definitely had more skill. He was actually surprised Bisky waited as long as she did to blow her whistle.

"Okay! Break for water while I switch up the teams!" Bisky yelled.

The players jogged to the sideline, taking their drinks while Bisky decided who should change positions.

Killua took a slow drink from his water as he watched Gon wipe the sweat from his face with his shirt.

"Do you think Bisky will play with us now?" Gon asked after he'd soaked up most of the perspiration from his skin.

Killua rolled his eyes. "Probably not today, but trust me you'll get a chance to play against her. The old hag can't stay off the field," Killua grumbled, knowing that if he spoke at a normal volume Bisky would somehow hear him.

"I've been meaning to ask, why do you keep calling her old?" Gon asked.

"Because she _is_ old," Killua answered simply.

Gon laughed. "She can't be more than 35, Killua. That's not old!"

Killua grinned knowingly before handing Gon the water bottle. "Yeah, you're right, 35 five isn't old," Killua paused, waiting for Gon to take a drink before he finished speaking. "Too bad Bisky turned 61 last year."

As Killua had hoped, Gon spit his water out of his mouth in surprise, choking on it a little. Killua cackled.

"She can't be that old," Gon said, disbelief evident, as he wiped water off of his chin.

"I swear, Gon. She's just had a ton of work done," Killua explained. "If you don't believe me, check out some of the old yearbooks. She looks the same now as she did in 1975."

Gon's eyes went wide, and for a second Killua thought it was from what he said. Then Bisky's hand grabbed his ear for the second time that day.

"Ow, Bisky, come on!" Killua complained.

"You need to stop giving away my beauty secrets," Bisky said calmly before turning her attention to Gon. "I'm putting you on the other team, same position—actually, switch to the right side. Keep up the good work!"

Gon nodded before trading Bisky his green tank top in exchange for a white one, all while she was still holding onto Killua.

When they had finished Bisky finally released Killua's ear and walked away.

Killua rubbed at the side of his head as Gon beamed from Bisky's praise. The tan boy then turned his grin to Killua.

"I guess you were right. I have made a good impression," Gon said to Killua happily.

Killua rolled his eyes. "Gee, I'm so proud of you."

Gon laughed before pulling Killua's hand away from his head. "Aw, did she hurt your ear?" Gon asked as he gently pushed silver hair away from the mentioned appendage.

Killua scoffed, avoiding eye contact with Gon, but not pulling away. It felt nice having a hand in his hair.

"Why? Are you going to kiss it better for me?" Killua teased, a small part of him hoping that Gon actually would.

Gon didn't disappoint him. Before Killua could bring his eyes up to face Gon again, the other boy had already leaned in and planted a small kiss right on Killua's earlobe.

"All better?" Gon whispered against Killua's earlobe.

The boy in question could have melted. Before meeting Gon, Killua had never known what a strong effect hot breath could have on him. Now he knew that questions whispered in his ear were enough to make his whole body feel a jolt of pleasure.

Killua pulled away to look at Gon, hoping that he would think of an appropriate response once he was looking him in the eye. Upon meeting Gon's shit eating grin, he decided on one.

"Yeah," Killua agreed, a sweet smile on his face that masked the irritation caused by Gon's facial expression. "Now I just feel guilty that I'm about to wipe that smug smile off of your face."

"Oh? How are you going to do that?" Gon asked, sounding far too excited for someone who had just been threatened.

"In case you missed it, we're on different teams now. And that means that I'm going to kick your ass," Killua said, a look of determination on his face.

Gon mirrored his expression, his eyes looking bright and alive in response to the challenge in the air.

"It means you're going to try," Gon corrected.

"I won't go easy on you just because I'm seducing you," Killua warned him.

"I wouldn't like you if you did," Gon said honestly.

Bisky's whistle interrupted the conversation. "Alright, everyone back on the field!" Bisky yelled.

Gon took a quick swig of Killua's water before tossing it on the ground. He then bumped his shoulder against Killua's.

"Good luck, Killua," Gon said, his body looking full of energy despite practice being close to over.

Killua stretched his neck from side to side, making it crack in the process. "You too."


	8. Chapter 8

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 8**

 **Author's Note: Hello, hello! Can you believe that these boys have been at soccer practice for 5 chapters now? But it's going to be coming to an end. But I won't spoil anything. Thank you guys for reading and reviewing! As always, I love hearing what you think, good or bad!**

 **And fun fact, had I had more time to write before the big bang ended, Bisky definitely would have joined the soccer game and kicked the boys' butts. But, I didn't have the time and it wasn't really plot necessary so it was cut. Anyway, here's more Kicking Against the Goad!  
**

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Once again the players took their spots on the field. Killua took a quick second to look around the field to survey his team. He was pleased to note that while he'd lost Gon and Shoot, he still had Palm on his team and had gained Ikalgo, Amane, and Zushi. It looked like it would basically be a game of killer offense versus killer defense. Killua could work with that.

He watched as Bisky held the ball in the air between Shoot and Pokkle. Between the two of them, Killua fully expected Shoot to come out with the ball. Shoot might have spent the last few practices as a midfielder, but he'd only been put there because there was no one else with enough stamina to fill the position. His scoring abilities were as good as any of the team's offensive players.

With that in mind, Killua prepared himself to be on the defensive.

When Bisky blew her whistle, she dropped the ball to the ground. As Killua had anticipated, Shoot easily maneuvered the ball around Pokkle and took off running toward Killua's team's goal.

Shoot was initially slowed as Zepile approached him to try to take the ball, but Shoot was able to get around him just as Pokkle caught up with him, resulting in Zepile tripping over Pokkle.

Luckily, the two offenders had given Killua the time he needed to get in close. Unluckily, Gon was at Shoot's back, ready to help defend the ball. It was a good thing that Shoot wasn't the only one who had backup.

Killua looked back at Ikalgo, silently telling the small boy to prepare himself. Ikalgo nodded before running forward to have Killua's back. Killua knew without looking that Zushi had moved himself over to help protect Ikalgo's spot on the field as well as his own.

Knowing that Ikalgo had his back, Killua went to take the ball from Shoot. It was a struggle. Shoot was fast and the stare he had on Killua was intimidating. If Killua wasn't so used to playing against Shoot, he had no doubt he'd be at least a little thrown off.

For a few seconds the two boys struggled over possession of the ball before Shoot kicked the ball back to Gon. The tan boy quickly took the ball around Killua and Shoot, only to come face-to-face with Ikalgo.

Killua grinned. He hoped Gon fell into the common pitfall that opponents had in the past of underestimating Ikalgo. Killua knew his sunburned teammate didn't look like much. He was the shortest member of the team and he looked like he'd be embarrassingly slow. And while Ikalgo _was_ sort of slow, he made up for it by having a reach that his short legs didn't suggest he would have, and a ball control style that was intricate enough to be confusing. The way Ikalgo kicked the ball around made it look like he had more than two legs.

Gon attempted to simply kick the ball around Ikalgo, but the shorter boy stuck a leg out and managed to tip the ball into his area. From there Ikalgo took control of the ball, kicking it between his legs and around his body as Gon ran around him, attempting to get control back.

During that time, Killua ran forward, getting into a passing position. Shoot followed behind him, but Killua ran at top speed to keep two steps in front of him. If Ikalgo could get him the ball, Killua was sure he could get it to the other side of the field.

Ikalgo obviously knew what Killua was thinking. The first opening Gon gave him, Ikalgo kicked the ball into the air, and then head-butted it to Killua.

The ball bounced off of Killua's chest and then down to the ground to his waiting feet. Killua took off with the ball, knowing he had over half the field to clear before he could even think about making a successful shot at the goal.

Behind him, Killua could hear at least one set of footsteps, although there might have been two. He knew he would have to move quickly to keep Shoot and Gon from taking the ball.

In front of him, Killua watched Knuckle coming his way. The last thing he needed was to be sandwiched between Shoot and Knuckle. He looked around at his options. Pokkle and Zepile were both technically passing options, but with Ponzu and Siper standing nearby as defenders, he didn't like his odds.

He decided to test his luck with Knuckle and Shoot, as risky as the decision might be.

Killua began cutting his way across the field in an angle toward the goal. He hoped in doing so he could get around Knuckle.

For a second Killua thought he was going to make it. He would have, had Knuckle not decided to slide for the ball. As it was, Knuckle sent the ball sailing to an empty spot on the field while Killua leaped over his leg to keep from falling. Shoot unfortunately didn't do the same. Instead he fell into Knuckle, making both boys curse, perhaps in frustration but more than likely at each other.

Killua quickly turned to go after the ball, only to see Gon already running toward it, having avoided the collision. Killua went after him, his heart starting to race from running at top speed for so long.

Gon managed to get control of the ball and took it back toward Killua's goal, with the silver haired boy quickly closing the gap between them. They were about halfway down the field when Killua got close enough to go for the ball.

He swept a leg out for the ball, but Gon slowed at just the right moment to make him miss. However, by slowing down, Killua was able to get in front of him. Once they were face to face they began a battle for the ball.

It went back and forth, one of them taking the ball a few inches, only to have the other gain control again.

Killua was about to call for backup when Gon began laughing between labored breaths. Killua gave the best questioning look that he could while keeping his attention on the ball.

"This is so great! You're amazing, Killua!" Gon complimented as he once again stole the ball from Killua.

Killua managed to take it back again, despite blushing at the praise.

"You're so embarrassing," Killua muttered as he blocked one of Gon's kicks with his shin.

" _That's_ not embarrassing," Gon said, his tone hinting that he had something he could say that _would_ be embarrassing.

"Whatever you're thinking, hold it," Killua demanded as Gon once again took hold of the ball. "I want to be rewarded with your sexy talk after I beat you."

Gon grinned even as Killua took back the ball. "Loser has to tell the other how hot they looked winning? In detail."

"You're on," Killua agree without considering how embarrassing either outcome would be for him. If Killua was being honest, there wasn't a challenge he wouldn't accept if Gon was the one posing it. He wanted to beat the other teen too badly. Wanted to impress him too much.

With that in mind, Killua finally managed to get past Gon with the ball. However, he didn't make it very far before Shoot and Knuckle came up on either side of him. His fight with Gon over the ball had given the two of them plenty of time to plan and get into position to steal the ball. Killua attempted to make a speedy getaway, but Knuckle managed to kick the ball over to Shoot, who passed the ball over to Imori before Killua could do anything.

The game continued on without interruption from Bisky's whistle, going back and forth without either team scoring. As Killua had predicted, it was mostly a game of his team's defense against the other team's offense.

Of course it was also a game of him against Gon. Each time they met on the field it was a battle, not only for the ball, but for the best or dirtiest comment. It wasn't enough to just take the ball from Gon, Killua also had to do his best to make Gon embarrassed (a near impossible feat) or more determined. At the very least he had to make Gon smile. Fuck, Killua liked Gon's smile. So wide it looked painful, so white it blinded, and so fond that Killua's heart felt like it had stopped even as it was in overdrive from physical exertion.

As Killua approached the other team's goal, Gon hot on his tail, he knew it would probably be his last chance to both score and impress Gon. Killua didn't have a watch on, but he could tell by the fatigue his teammates were showing that practice was almost over.

Killua was running straight for the other team's goal when Ponzu and Siper came to the goal's early defense. Killua quickly changed his path, cutting across the field as to avoid Siper and only deal with Ponzu.

Killua was about to take Ponzu on directly, trusting that his footwork was better and that she was standing close enough to the goal for him to get a shot, when Gon came up behind him and managed to kick the ball to Ponzu before Killua was to her.

Gon immediately ran away from Killua and Ponzu, attempting to get open for a pass. Killua scowled as he slowed, trying to see what Ponzu would do with the ball. Killua watched Ponzu scan the field before her eyes and body aimed toward Gon who had put a fair distance between himself and Killua. She kicked the ball toward him.

Killua ran to intercept the pass, his legs pumping as fast as they could go. He barely managed to reach the ball, the toes of his cleat getting under the ball and sending it flying straight up into the air. Killua didn't have much time to think. He quickly looked over his shoulder at the goal behind him before kicking his leg up into the air, bicycle-kicking the ball toward the goal.

Killua watched the ball soar through the air in an upside-down view as his back hit the ground. As the ball flew to the right corner of the goal, Goreinu ran to catch it, jumping up in the air at the last second.

Killua watched as the tips of Goreinu's fingers caressed the ball, applying just enough force to slow the ball down and make it land in front of Goreinu. Killua's shot had been blocked.

Killua groaned even as he jumped to his feet, frustration reenergizing his body. He was about to get back into position when Bisky's whistle blew.

"That's game!" Bisky yelled, drowning out both the cheers and grumbling of the players.

Killua sighed, wanting nothing more than to flop back down on the ground to pout about the amazing goal he'd just missed. Unfortunately, his pride wouldn't allow such a childish act. Instead he prepared to congratulate the goalie on a great block, despite the angry voice in the back of his mind snapping that Goreinu had just gotten lucky.

Before Killua could fully turn to face Goreinu, he got his wish to be lying on the ground again in the form of Gon tackling him in a full body hug.

Killua grunted as he hit the grass, but Gon seemed unaffected, too busy talking and squeezing his arms around Killua's neck.

"Holy shit, Killua! That was amazing!" Gon yelled in Killua's face, ignoring the looks that the other players were giving them.

"What are you talking about, Idiot? I missed," Killua grumbled the last part, avoiding eye contact with Gon as he said it.

"Who cares about that? It was still a great shot! And Killua looked so sexy making it," Gon said, his smile making the switch from awe to deviant in the time it took Killua to blink.

Killua blushed preemptively. He had a feeling Gon wasn't done speaking.

"Neither of us won. You don't have to say anything about how I looked while I was playing," Killua said, the voice in the back of his mind _snorting_ at him because he might have only known Gon for one day, but he knew him well enough to know that he was going to finish his thoughts regardless of what Killua said.

Gon's smile said that he was going to keep speaking and that he was well aware that Killua was going to let him.

"I want to though," Gon said softly before leaning closer to Killua, their noses almost touching. "You looked so good out there. You're so fast, and your ball control is so good, and you're so _bossy_ with your team."

"You like me being bossy now?" Killua asked, trying to find humor in what Gon was saying so that he wouldn't be so embarrassed.

Gon nodded, his nose bumping against Killua's as he did so. "Mm. You sound really nice when you're taking control," Gon said before moving to whisper into Killua's ear. "Especially when I know I could take it from you just by asking."

Killua thought he might die on the field. A part of him hoped that he did. His team was staring at him, everyone finally catching on to what was happening or finally deciding they were fed up with it, and Killua himself was realizing things about himself that he wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

Gon shifted against Killua, his defined muscles moving against Killua's in a way that made the silver haired boy have to stifle a moan. Fuck, if Killua was going to die, he supposed there were worse ways to go than with a hot boy on top of him.

"Don't you have something to say to me, Killua?" Gon asked, sounding very amused for someone who was lying on top of a dying boy.

"What can I possibly say to that?" Killua asked, his eyes screwed shut as to avoid further embarrassment.

"You could tell me how I looked," Gon suggested in an innocent way that made Killua's eyes snap open.

"Did you seriously only say all of that so that I would tell you how _you_ looked?" Killua asked incredulously.

"Well, not only because of _that_. I wanted you to know what I thought, too," Gon answered as Killua laughed.

"You are so _full_ of yourself," Killua said, trying to sound scornful but failing by sounding too affectionate.

Gon didn't respond, only continued to smile down at Killua, waiting for him to say what Gon wanted.

Killua should have refused based simply on principle, but Gon wasn't wrong when he said he could take control of Killua just by asking. The truth was that Killua wanted very badly to make the selfish boy on top of him happy. Even if it embarrassed him. Even if that embarrassment killed him. He just wanted Gon to keep smiling fondly at him.

He was going to kill Leorio for getting him into such a mess with such a beautiful boy.

"You were great, you idiot," Killua said, forcing himself to keep eye contact with Gon. "And hot, too. It's like proving you were my ideal central player wasn't even enough for you, you had to look sexy, too. You had to sweat everywhere. And when most people sweat, it's gross, but apparently you didn't get the memo because you just look like a tan, glowing, sun god or some shit. And any time I took the ball from you, you smiled at me like I was making your damn day —"

"You were, Killua! I've never had as much fun playing with someone else!" Gon interrupted, seemingly unable to hold in his thought.

With all of the other embarrassing things Gon had said to him that day, Killua thought he would be able to keep the blush off of his face. However, the heat he felt on his face told him that he had thought wrong.

"Yeah, well, I had a pretty good time too," Killua admitted, making Gon's whole face light up.

The adoring look on Gon's face was too much. Killua decided if his body wasn't going to corporate and die from the mortification Gon's expression was causing him, he'd have to take control of the situation.

Killua grabbed hold of Gon's sides and rolled their positions so that Killua was lying on top of him.

"But I'd be having a better time if you had saved this for after the cool down lap," Killua said, his eyes turning dark as he attempted to give Gon the intimidating look he used on the rest of the team.

"Liar," Gon said evenly, showing no signs of being affected by the look.

"I'm not," Killua said before leaning in to whisper into Gon's ear, "We would have had more time. And I'd really like to spend more time in this position."

Gon was about to answer when a loud cough caused the two boys to look up.

The team had gathered together and was standing about two feet away from the pile of limbs that was Gon and Killua.

"What?" Killua yelled loudly, even as his face turned red from embarrassment. He hoped it could pass as anger.

"Killua, it's nice to see you so _invested_ in our new player, but I need you to turn down your hormones for just a few more minutes so we can do our cool down drill," Bisky said, the grin on her face far too pleased to be appropriate for a teacher. Then again, Biscuit Krueger was known for having unusual methods.

Killua sputtered as he tried to come up with something to say to his coach. As he grappled to find the right words he heard Zushi 'whisper' to Palm, "Do you think this is how practice is going to be from now on?"

Killua finally gave up on responding to Bisky and instead focused on his team. "Hey, it's time for the cool down lap! Go, run, now! Yeah, that means everyone! Move it!"

Some of the players gave Killua strange looks, but in the end they obeyed their captain and began jogging their cool down lap.

Killua went to stand up, only to feel Gon's arms still clinging to him. Instead of telling Gon to let go of him, he lifted the other teen up with him, enjoying the extra time spent with their bodies pushed together.

"Your leadership is inspired," Bisky said, voice sickly sweet as she watched the boys in front of her.

Killua glared at her even as he was still wrapped around Gon. "Oh, come off it, Krueger!"

Bisky only laughed at Killua's anger. Killua groaned.

"Come on, Gon. We need to catch up," Killua said, finally pulling himself away from Gon. Gon did the same, letting his arms drop from around Killua slower than necessary before taking off toward the rest of the team. Killua followed after him.

"Sorry if I embarrassed you," Gon said softly as they ran after the rest of the team.

Killua almost laughed. There were no 'if' about it. Killua had definitely felt humiliated. But somehow, with Gon beside him, it didn't feel like that big of a deal.

Killua shrugged. "Don't worry about it. There was no harm done. Besides, I got to cuddle with you for a little bit." Killua wiggled his eyebrows, hoping Gon would think it was cute and not dorky.

Gon laughed. "That wasn't even cuddling. At least not _good_ cuddling. It was nice though."

"Well I guess I'll have to prove to you later that I'm a great cuddler," Killua said, trying not to think about how much he would like to be wrapped around Gon again.

"Mm, I can already tell you are," Gon said earnestly, making Killua flush. Of course the one thing Gon believed Killua would be good at was cuddling.

The two teens caught up to the rest of the team at the end of the lap, where Bisky was standing waiting for them.

"All right team, that's it for today! We have practice again the day after tomorrow. Remember that you _can_ practice on your own time," Bisky reminded the team before looking to the team captain. "Killua, closing words?"

Killua nodded. "Remember we have study sessions on our off days. We'll be in the library after school tomorrow. No one has an excuse to be ineligible to play. If you're coming to the study sessions, I'll personally make sure you get the help you need. On the same note, if you want extra help with soccer stuff, come to me. We're a small team, and we need everyone. And, I'm sure you're all tired of hearing me say this, but if you're thinking of quitting, talk to me first. I know it's early in the season and things might seem intimidating, but I promise things will feel easier as the season goes on," Killua said, mostly reiterating the same speech that he had given since the start of the new season. "Now hands in, Hunters on three!"

All of the players put their hands out in a pile before chanting, "One, two, three, Hunters!"

With that, the practice was over and players began scattering to leave, whether on foot, by car, or a parent's waiting vehicle.

Killua turned to Gon as he laced his hands behind his head. "So, practice is over."

"Mm, yeah. But just the first one," Gon said, smiling happily.

Killua smiled even as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, just your first one. There'll be loads more."

"So that means I kept up then?" Gon teased, using Killua's words from earlier in the day. "Since only people who keep up get to play."

Killua grinned deviously. "I may have exaggerated a little, but I think it was a good motivator."

Gon's grin became comically big before he started laughing. "You're the best, Killua."

Killua allowed himself to feel joy at the comment before forcing himself to ask the question that was on his mind. "Does that mean I seduced you?"

Gon looked at him blankly, and Killua instantly steeled himself for rejection. He should have been expecting it. Of course he should have been. He didn't know how to seduce anyone, especially someone as great as Gon. Maybe if he was lucky he had convinced Gon he was friendship material. If he was lucky.

Gon then broke out in a fit of laughter that had him holding his stomach as tears began to form at the corners of his eyes. Killua's fear of rejection immediately turned to irritation.

"What's so funny?" Killua huffed.

" _You_ are," Gon said once he'd finally stopped laughing.

Killua wanted to stay angry, but fear ebbed at him. Was Gon really laughing at him? Was the idea that Killua could seduce him really that funny?

"Killua, what do you think will happen if you haven't seduced me?" Gon asked as though he was asking a question with a very obvious answer.

Killua unfortunately didn't know what that answer was. So instead of answering he stared blankly at Gon.

"Killua, come on. It's obvious that I'd just have to seduce you instead," Gon said, sounding like laughter was on the tip of his tongue.

Killua's mouth dropped open. For a second he just stared before he finally managed to speak. "What?"

"I mean, we obviously have fun together, so if you failed, I'd just have to seduce you," Gon said as Killua attempted to turn the words around in his head in a way that made sense. "But you sound so worried about not seducing me. I know failing isn't fun, but it's not like it'd be the end of the world."

Killua wondered if it was possible to beat someone to death with a soccer ball. He thought it was definitely something he wanted to find out. He could practically feel the steam coming out of his ears.

"Was I trash talking too much earlier? Is that why you're worried? I just wanted to get you going, that's all." The more Gon spoke the worse it got. It was like Gon was from another planet where the typical rules of logic didn't exist.

"What is wrong with you? Do you even realize how much sense you _aren't_ making? Is everyone where you're from this insane?" Killua asked, invading Gon's personal space enough to jab a finger in his face with each of his questions.

"Ow! Killua, it's not hard to understand. I'm obviously interested in you—"

"How is it obvious?" Killua yelled as he threw his hands into the air.

"I mean, I was jealous when I thought you were dating Leorio—"

"What?"

"And I was flirting back with you—"

"You said you were just seeing if I could handle it!" Killua yelled as he pulled at fistfuls of his hair.

"Well, yeah, I was. But I was also doing it because I liked you," Gon said, still looking at Killua like he couldn't believe Killua wasn't getting it.

"Oh my— how was I supposed to know that?" Killua asked, his frustration reaching a breaking point.

"Killua, maybe we should talk about it later. I think you're getting worked up," Gon suggested, only serving to add to Killua's fury.

"Oh, _I'm_ getting worked up? Well, maybe that's because _you're_ an idiot!" Killua yelled, poking Gon in the cheek hard enough that the pale boy hoped he'd bruise.

"Come on, Killua, don't get mad at me! It doesn't really matter anyway!" Gon pleaded as he moved away from Killua's finger.

"And why doesn't it matter?" Killua asked, hands going to rest on his hips.

"Because you seduced me!"

The anger suddenly drained from Killua's body as he let the words sink in. He'd seduced Gon. He actually did it.

And holy shit, had Gon said he was interested in Killua?

"Oh," Killua said, unable to come up with any other words.

"Yeah! I wasn't sure at first if you'd be able to seduce me to the point where I wanted to exclusively flirt with you or not, but I definitely do!" Gon told him, his tone getting excited despite the fact that Killua had be stabbing him with his finger only seconds earlier. "Your last speech to the team convinced me. You care so much about them."

"Gross, I do not," Killua said as he looked away from Gon. "And what are you talking about flirting exclusively? Are you asking me out?"

"Oh, no!" Gon corrected quickly, making Killua once again feel like he didn't understand what was going on. "I don't date anyone! I have a lot going on, so it wouldn't be right to make that kind of commitment. I just don't have the time."

"Okay," Killua said, deciding to just let Gon further explain.

"But I don't really like the idea of flirting with a bunch of people either. I just want to flirt with one person exclusively and have them do the same. And I want you to be that one person! Because I like you a lot, and I think we'll have a lot of fun together! So what do you think?" Gon asked, looking incredibly earnest in his excitement.

Killua thought Gon was insane.

First the guy said that Killua couldn't seduce him, even though Gon apparently had already liked him. Then Gon claimed that Killua could somehow fail at seducing him, while still having Gon want to seduce him. And to top the weirdly decorated cake, Gon wanted to exclusively be together, but not _be_ together.

It all made Killua's head hurt. Especially the way Gon was looking at him, waiting hopefully for an answer that would please him.

Killua's instincts told him to say, 'Forget it.' Gon was too weird and the things he wanted didn't make sense.

But Gon was smiling at him, his amber eyes shining in the sun and the freckles on his nose and cheekbones looking darker than they had at the start of practice. Gon was light contained within a boy. He was strange, but he was good, and Killua wanted to be by his side.

"I think you are so weird," Killua said truthfully before sighing. "But apparently I'm into that. And it's a good thing because I have a feeling you're the kind of guy who needs someone to keep an eye on him."

Killua had barely finished his sentence before Gon's arms were around his neck in a tight hug.

"You make me so happy, Killua." Gon said as he sat his chin on Killua's shoulder.

"You make me so embarrassed," Killua muttered, although in his mind he was thinking about how Gon made him happy too.

But as Gon giggled into his neck, Killua thought perhaps Gon knew what he was thinking.

Their hug was brought to an end when Killua realized someone was crying beside them. He quickly pulled away from Gon, only to see their soccer coach with a hanky pushed against her eyes.

"Oh, it's so beautiful!" Bisky sobbed before blowing her nose loudly into her hanky. "I swear my old age is turning me into such an emotional crier."

"Bisky! Have you been listening to us?" Killua yelled, his face turning scarlet.

"I've been standing in the same place since the huddle," Bisky defended herself as she dried up the last of her tears.

"It's true, Killua," Gon added.

"And you didn't care to mention that?" Killua hissed at Gon, who only shrugged.

"It's so nice to see you happy," Bisky said to Killua, only furthering his embarrassment.

" _No_ ," Killua groaned. "Do not get involved in whatever this is. I'm leaving. Never bring this up again." Killua said to Bisky, who made the most offended noise that a 61 year old woman could make.

Killua then turned, walking quickly to pick up his things, hoping to leave the soccer field before Bisky could say anything to humiliate him more.

Killua had just managed to pick up the last of his things when Gon appeared beside him, coughing loudly.

"What?" Killua asked as he pushed his water bottle into his duffel bag.

"Were you not going to say goodbye to me?" Gon asked, his tone teasing. "You can't stop putting in effort just because I said you seduced me."

"Sorry, I'll see you tomorrow, babe. Try not to miss me too much," Killua said, realizing that he wasn't actually sure how to say goodbye to someone that he was… exclusively flirting with.

"I'll try not to," Gon said, voice full of mirth.

Killua stared at Gon for a few awkward seconds before finally turning around to begin his walk home. He was stopped when Gon grabbed hold of his wrist.

"You're forgetting something," Gon teased before pointing at his own cheek.

Killua turned red, knowing what Gon was asking for. As Killua struggled with his embarrassment, Gon waited patiently with a smile on his lips. Finally Killua dipped down, placing the quickest kiss possible on Gon's cheek before turning away and shouldering his bag.

"I'll see you tomorrow, you weirdo."

Gon laughed briefly before grabbing Killua around the waist, pulling his back against Gon's chest, before standing on his tiptoes to kiss Killua's cheek.

"I can't wait," Gon said joyfully before releasing Killua and jogging back to where Bisky stood.

Killua couldn't help bringing a hand up to hold his burning cheek.

This was his life now.

Fuck, this was _his life now_.

Killua smiled the whole way home.


	9. Chapter 9

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 9**

 **Author's Note: So we are super close to the end. Like so close that I figured out who I got as artists for the big bang (they're both amazing). I'll be attempting to link to that later. Let's be real hates that. But Imma try. Also, remember Leorio and Kurapika? They're back!  
**

 **Fun fact, this chapter was originally in Killua's point of view, but it changed to Leorio's because Killua's arc in this was pretty much over.  
**

* * *

When Leorio was released from his anatomy class he headed straight for the outside table that he ate lunch at almost every day with Killua and Kurapika.

Normally if he was hurrying to somewhere that Killua and Kurapika were going to be, it was because he was excited to see Kurapika. This time it was because he wanted to give Killua a piece of his mind.

…And then ask him for help or at least get his advice.

When he entered the school yard he immediately saw the white head of hair sitting at their table under the tree. Had Leorio not been mad at Killua he might have taken a moment to appreciate the fact that Killua had showed up instead of continuing to ignore him.

However, Leorio was mad, so he stalked over to the table, every part of his body letting off an angry aura.

"You!" Leorio yelled, pointing a finger at Killua's face.

Killua turned to face Leorio, his nose almost making contact with the finger. "Yo."

"Don't 'yo' me! You hid from me this morning!" Leorio accused as he pulled his finger back only to point it at Killua again.

The shorter boy's indifferent face immediately soured.

"Gee, I wonder why I did that," Killua said to himself before turning away from Leorio to face his lunch. "Now why don't you sit down, old man? And stop yelling, you're making a scene."

Leorio felt the anger build up in his body, an all too familiar reaction to a conversation with Killua, but he managed to push it down as he took two long strides to sits across from Killua at the table.

"Why were you hiding? I was just going to talk to you," Leorio hissed as he leaned in to talk to Killua.

"Yeah, that would be why," Killua said simply as he took a bite out of his sandwich. Then, through a full mouth, he added, "I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that I like to be left alone in the morning."

Leorio scowled at Killua's lack of table manners. For a kid who had to go to dinner parties at least twice a month, he sure as hell talked with his mouth full a lot.

"Look, I'm in a crisis, here. Kurapika brought up Gon when we were texting last night," Leorio explained, hoping that once Killua realized how serious the situation was, he would stop acting like such a brat.

"Uh huh. And what was the context of that?" Killua asked, sounding bored. Leorio would have been offended had Killua not also put his sandwich down. That was a pretty good sign that the shorter boy was at least listening to him.

"He was talking about not having weekend plans. And then he said maybe he'd just ask Gon to go out with him on Saturday!" Leorio complained.

It had been devastating. After Kurapika had mentioned not having any weekend plans, Leorio had begun hinting that there was a movie he'd like to see, if _someone_ would just _ask him_. Then out of nowhere Kurapika had mentioned Gon again.

"Or you could ask Kurapika to go out with _you_ on Saturday," Killua suggested before returning to his sandwich.

"Or he could ask _me_ out! If he would ask out Gon, why wouldn't he ask me out?" Leorio asked, as he crossed his arms and leaned down on the table, totally not sulking _at all_.

The eye roll Leorio received could not have been more exaggerated. "Because Gon isn't super annoying?" Killua offered.

Leorio glared before changing the subject. "That's pretty high praise coming from you. Have you thought any more about operation seduction?"

Leorio hoped that he had. Kurapika was too smart and pretty for his own good. How could Gon possibly reject him? How could anyone? Sure, he could be a little argumentative, but even that was nice sometimes. The only way Leorio could stop Gon from realizing how great Kurapika was, was to throw someone else at him. That was where Killua came in.

Hopefully.

Killua looked at Leorio doubtfully. "You really haven't heard anything?"

"About what?" Leorio asked, his face coming together in confusion. Had he missed something?

Killua was fidgeting under his gaze when a voice called out to them.

"Hey, Killua! Leorio!" Gon ran up to the table with his lunch before plopping down in the seat next to Killua.

Leorio couldn't help smiling when he saw Gon. Even with the fear of Kurapika going out with him, Leorio couldn't bring himself to dislike Gon. He was too optimistic and his eyes were wide and innocent, and on top of that his smile was contagious.

"Yo, Gon! How's it going? I haven't seen you since the schedule change. Are things better?" Leorio asked, both genuinely curious and hopeful that Gon would say he shared classes with Killua.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't gotten to see you! But my classes have been good. Especially my art class. I sit across from _the hottest_ guy," Gon gushed, sparing a look a Killua, who wasn't meeting his eye.

Immediately Leorio's body stiffened. Kurapika's third class of the day was an art class—Pottery. Was that the one Gon was in? Did he sit across from Kurapika? Was it too late?

"Oh, you do? That's, uh, great! Do you guys have any other classes together?" Leorio asked, hoping to figure out who it was without metaphorically having to put a neon sign on his forehead that said he had a crush on Kurapika.

"Not a lot because he's super smart and in all AP classes," Gon said proudly.

The knowledge made Leorio cringe. The only classes Kurapika was in that weren't AP were for arts credits.

"But," Gon continued, a look on his face that could almost be described as mischievous, "we have lunch together and then English in the afternoon. I can't wait for that. I bet he'll write me love poems."

"Wait, he's in our lunch?" Leorio asked as he scanned the school yard, searching for other boys that Gon might be talking about.

Gon broke out into laughter, as he shared a look with Killua, who looked to be hiding most of his face behind his hair and one of his hands.

Was his face red?

"Mmhm, and I'm still waiting for him to tell me how much he's missed me," Gon said, scooting his body closer to Killua.

Killua's reaction left no room for doubt, his face was as red as Leorio had ever seen it, and Leorio had once gone to the beach with Killua.

"Are you that needy?" Killua asked, his voice going up to a pitch that Leorio had never heard from him before.

"You seemed just as needy when I was on your lap this morning," Gon countered.

Leorio couldn't believe it. Killua had actually come through for him. He grinned, feeling a pleasant tingle down his body that could only be described as relief.

"So Killua's the hotty?" Leorio asked before turning his smug face to Killua. "Are you two dating? When did this happen?"

"Oh, no, we aren't dating!" Gon answered quickly, making Leorio drop his head to the side like a confused dog. "I don't have time for that! But I like Killua a lot and he likes me, so we're exclusively flirting with each other."

"…Exclusively flirting?" Leorio questioned, his eyes sliding over to look at Killua, who only shrugged as his face remained red. What the hell did that mean?

"Mmhm!" Gon answered, sounding chipper.

"How's that different than dating?" Leorio asked. He wondered if Killua was as confused as he was.

"Well, my Aunt Mito always says it's important to be a gentleman when you're dating someone, and that part of that is taking them on nice dates that you put a lot of thought into. But, I don't really have time to do that, and I don't really want to anyway. But I do want someone to flirt with who's fun and just _mine_ , you know? And Killua's perfect," Gon explained in a special way that Leorio thought could only ever make sense to Gon.

"You are so embarrassing," Killua groaned through his hands.

Gon and Leorio shared a grin. Anything that made Killua blush like that was definitely good for him. He needed to live a little.

"Okay, so how did you two begin exclusively flirting?" Leorio asked, more pleased than he could have ever hoped.

Killua scowled. "Don't look so proud, old man. It happened after I explained to him that I wasn't dating you and never would."

"…What?"

"Yeah, your plan to talk me up to him so that I could seduce him had some major flaws," Killua said as he crossed his arms, looking like a petulant child.

Meanwhile, Leorio looked at Killua in shock. He couldn't believe Killua had told Gon about his plan. Killua was practically his kid brother; how could he betray him like that?

Upon noticing the look on Leorio's face, Killua's lips formed a smirk. Leorio decided he was going to murder him.

"Oh, yeah. I kinda told Gon about your plan. Whoops," Killua said before turning to Gon. "I have missed you, by the way," Killua admitted as he put his arm around Gon's waist and pulled them together until their sides were flush.

"I know," Gon replied happily, practically nuzzling against Killua's body.

Leorio couldn't believe it. Killua had had a sort of boyfriend for less than a day and he was already betraying Leorio's secrets to him? What was going on with him? Wasn't Killua usually more level headed?

"You seriously told him about Kurapika? What the hell is wrong with you?" Leorio yelled, his hands slamming down on the table, making his lunch bounce into the air.

" _Oh_ , so Kurapika is the guy he likes," Gon said as though he'd just been struck with an epiphany.

Leorio went pale.

"Yeah, I never told him _who_ you like, dumbass. I have some tact," Killua said, before taking a big bite out of his sandwich.

"It's okay, Leorio! I won't tell him that you asked Killua to seduce me!" Gon promised. "Besides, I don't think he likes me like that, even if he did say I was hot. I think we're just going to be good friends."

Leorio wanted to yell some more, but one look at Gon's smiling face sent him sinking down into his seat, arms crossed against his chest as he grumbled to himself.

Apparently something about Leorio's pose was funny, because a second later Killua was leaning against Gon's shoulder, cackling. Leorio grinded his teeth, trying to keep from screaming.

"I apologize for being late—What's so funny?" Kurapika asked as he paused with his lunch in his hands to stare a Killua and Gon.

Leorio watched as Kurapika's eyes widened slightly in surprise before quickly shrinking down to a look of suspicion.

Suddenly Leorio felt less sure of his plan.

"Nothing's funny," Leorio promised, trying his hardest to take Kurapika's attention away from Killua and Gon.

"I'm sure," Kurapika said as his eyes narrowed at Leorio before he turned to Gon. "It's nice to see you again, Gon. It's very serendipitous that you've made your way to my friend group."

Leorio cringed. He hated the way Kurapika could make an accusation at him without even sparing a glance in his direction.

It's very serendipitous? No, it's very Leorio. That's what Kurapika meant.

"Oh, yeah! Well, you know how my schedule was messed up?" Gon asked as Kurapika walked around the table to take the seat next to him and across from Gon.

Leorio tried not to be hurt by the amount of space Kurapika left between them.

"Yes, I do hope Principal Netero finally took care of that," Kurapika said, completely ignoring Leorio's presence.

Ouch.

"Yup, he did! But before that, I ended up in shop class with Leorio, and he introduced himself to me! And then later to Killua!" Gon explained.

"That was very kind of you Leorio," Kurapika said, his eyes finally focusing on Leorio's again.

It was at that moment that Leorio decided he would prefer it if Kurapika would ignore him for a little while longer. At least until Kurapika's eyes didn't look like they would turn red out of anger.

Every word Kurapika spoke felt like an invisible dagger, stabbing at him while Killua and Gon sat on none the wiser. And it would only get worse once they were alone together. And he knew Kurapika would be getting them alone once he'd figured out what was going on.

All Leorio could do was try to cover his own ass. Killua was right, his plan blew.

"Well, I'm a friendly guy! So of course I wanted to introduce myself," Leorio said, trying to justify his action to Kurapika.

"Of course," Kurapika agreed, sounding too quiet, too peaceful, and too calm. He was planning.

Leorio watched as Kurapika's eyes scanned their table before settling on Killua. He took a slow bite of his apple before he finally spoke again.

"I mean no offense to you Gon, but I'm surprised you and Killua are getting along so well. Killua tends to be picky around newcomers." It was said as a sentence, but he was obviously trying to pump information out of Killua. Most important being, was Killua actively involved in what was happening?

"I was surprised too," Killua admitted, before taking a drink of milk right as Gon made an offended noise that was somewhere between a whine and a scoff. "But after Leorio introduced us, we got to talking about soccer and hit it off. We're kind of attached at the hip now."

Leorio glared at Killua. He wasn't going to confess to being involved in Leorio's plan. What a brat. And after he had landed a sort of boyfriend out of it.

Kurapika nodded at Killua, but before he could say anything, Killua's exclusive flirt buddy spoke up.

"Just because you've got your hand on my hip doesn't mean it's attached," Gon said coolly, his tone nonchalant. "No matter how much you wish it was."

Leorio and Kurapika both stared as Killua's cheeks turned a bright red. It wasn't every day that someone had the guts to say something so direct to the typically stoic teen. And more to the point, it wasn't every day that Killua _let_ someone say something so direct.

Leorio looked over to Kurapika, hoping to share a look to communicate how shocked he felt. Instead what he saw was a look of understanding.

 _Oh_. He was going to get blamed for their behavior. As if he could have known what Gon was like or how Killua would respond!

"Please, your hip is nice, but if I was going to attach my hand somewhere to your body, I can think of better places," Killua said lowly as he turned away from Kurapika and Leorio to look solely at Gon.

Leorio's mouth fell open. Had _Killua_ just said that?

"Oh, yeah? Where?" Gon asked, bright smile returning to his face.

"Oh my—Don't you _dare_ answer that question, you little runt!" Leorio yelled. He might only have been a year older than Killua, but sometimes he still felt protective over him. Like he needed to shield his eyes from R rated movies, and make sure he was doing his homework, and stop him from telling boys where he'd put his hands on their bodies given the chance.

"If you don't like it, then go somewhere else!" Killua hissed, obviously embarrassed but still unwilling to back down.

"Don't you tell me—"

"Actually that sounds like a good idea," Kurapika said as he stood up from his seat.

"Huh?" Leorio asked, confusion evident in his voice.

"I think we should leave them to it," Kurapika said before leveling Leorio with the most intense stare he had ever received. "We have something to discuss, don't we?"

Leorio considered arguing about it. After all, Killua needed to be advised of boundaries within a relationship. He also needed to be teased mercilessly for having a relationship in the first place.

But Leorio knew sooner or later he'd have to see how his plan had worked out. He also knew that the longer he put off talking to Kurapika, the more rage that would collect within the blonde's slender body. And Kurapika already had more than enough of that.

"I, uh, guess we do." Leorio said as he stood up to join Kurapika.

"We'll see you two later. Gon, I hope you'll continue to join us at lunch," Kurapika said, smiling at Gon and Killua in a way that Leorio didn't foresee Kurapika looking at him anytime soon.

"Yeah, I definitely will!" Gon promised.

"Good," Leorio said before giving Killua a pointed look. "And how about _you_ keep it PG while we're gone?"

"How about you bite me," Killua spat.

"How abo—"

Kurapika pulled on Leorio's shoulder before he could finish his thought. "Let's go."

Leorio scowled as Killua stuck his tongue out. He'd get the little shit back later. "Yeah, okay."

As Leorio followed Kurapika to wherever they were going, he heard Gon ask, "So, do you like being bit?"

Leorio cringed. He'd created monsters.


	10. Chapter 10

**Kicking Against the Goad: Chapter 10**

 **Author's Note: Oh god guys, here we are at the end. Man, this story was so fun to write and reading your reviews has been super great. As promised I have some art I'm going to try to link to (if you have trouble getting it to work, just let me know).**

 **This is by sarawalterart on tumblr. It's freakin' amazing and you should all check it out! And if you have tumblr you should totally reblog/like/tell them what a fantastic job they did! sarawalterart (dottumblr) .com (backslash) post (backslash) 161251796803 (backslash) heres-my-contribution-for-hxhbb17-based-on**

 **And of course, our last fun fact! Last chapter Gon made mention to Killua being in his lap earlier in the day. That is actually a direct reference to a scene I cut out because I felt it was shoe-horned in. That being said I'm gonna post it as a separate fic in a couple of days! I also might post some more oneshots based in this universe.**

 **Anyway, on with the final chapter! Thank you guys for reading!**

* * *

The walk to the school library was a quiet and tense one.

Kurapika was silently stewing in his own anger.

Once again instead of taking the simple route of confessing his feelings, Leorio had sidestepped and done something stupid and selfish. But what was new?

At the moment they were sitting at the table in the far corner of the library that they typically inhabited during midterms week. However, unlike then, there were no books piled high, and Leorio's fidgeting wasn't caused by drinking too much coffee.

The two boys had been sitting across from each other in complete silence for almost 20 seconds and already Leorio looked uncomfortable and ready to start blabbering. Kurapika was waiting for it. He was eager to see how Leorio would try to save himself.

"So are we going to do something about Killua?" Leorio finally asked as he leaned over the table. "Don't get me wrong, I think Gon's great, but Killua's never dated anyone, and I'm worried they're moving too fast."

"Hm, and I wonder who's responsible for that?" Kurapika mused as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

Leorio winced as he slid back in his seat, as though sensing that it wasn't a good idea to be too close to Kurapika at the moment.

"You're mad," Leorio said. It looked like there was something else that he wanted to add to the observation, but that he couldn't quite figure out what.

Kurapika rolled his eyes.

"Why would I be mad, Leorio?" Kurapika asked, completely stone faced.

There was no way in hell Kurapika wasn't going to make him spell it out.

"Okay, it's not what it looks like," Leorio tried.

"Then what is it?" Kurapika asked.

"It's-It's… They're just exclusively flirting," Leorio said, explaining absolutely nothing.

Kurapika blinked as he processed the term 'exclusively flirting.' He considered asking about it, but decided that it really didn't matter.

"And how did that happen?" Kurapika asked.

"Exactly how Killua told you it did!" Leorio yelled, looking frustrated until the librarian on duty shushed him. Then he just looked like he was pouting.

It only irritated Kurapika further.

"Well, excuse me for asking. I just can't believe you had the foresight to introduce Gon to Killua. That's a match I wouldn't have anticipated working well," Kurapika said, once again offering Leorio the chance to come clean.

"Yeah, well, it just made sense to introduce my new friend to my old friend," Leorio said as he pushed his small glasses up his nose.

"Right, and then Killua, who's gone out of his way to avoid romantic situations since we met him, ended up 'exclusively flirting' with Gon."

"Right."

"After knowing him for one day."

"That's correct."

"And none of that had anything to do with me telling you that I was going to ask Gon out?"

"…I had already forgotten about that."

"Damn it, Leorio!" Kurapika finally snapped, slamming his hands down on the table. "You set them up on purpose!"

"Why would I do that?" Leorio yelled, getting defensive at the accusation.

From across the room, the librarian once again shushed them.

Kurapika lowered his voice to a hiss, "I don't know Leorio, why would you?"

"Look, I get that you're upset that Gon chose Killua over you, but you don't need to take it out on me," Leorio said stubbornly.

Kurapika thought if it was possible for blood to actually boil, his would melt its way out of his skin.

"I'm not upset that Gon 'chose' Killua, I'm upset that you went out of your way to make sure that he did," Kurapika said, his voice raising in pitch.

"I didn't do anything!" Leorio whisper yelled.

"Oh, really? And if I were to ask Killua, he would corroborate your story?" Kurapika asked, knowing that if it came down to it, Killua would tell the truth.

Leorio seemed to know that too, as he instantly went quiet.

"Well?" Kurapika asked, knowing that he finally had Leorio where he wanted him.

"Well—well, you don't even like Gon!" Leorio accused, pointing a finger into Kurapika's face.

Kurapika scoffed. "How would you know?"

"Because if you actually liked him you'd be sad, instead of just mad at me," Leorio argued angrily.

"Maybe I'm too angry at you to express my sadness," Kurapika suggested darkly.

"Or maybe you never felt that way and you were just saying that you did to bother me!" Leorio said as he stood up and leaned over the table to yell in Kurapika's face.

Kurapika didn't flinch even as Leorio came so close to his face that it was impossible to look at him without going cross-eyed.

"And why would me wanting to ask Gon out bother you?" Kurapika asked, a small smirk appearing on his face.

Leorio sputtered before finally sitting back down in his chair and crossing his arms.

"Just admit it, Leorio. You set them up," Kurapika demanded.

"Well, maybe I did, but _you_ lied to me," Leorio said as though the two things equaled out. "And why did you do that, huh? Why pretend you like someone else?"

Kurapika considered Leorio's word choice. _Someone else._ Because they both knew there was no one else. That even when Kurapika was screaming at Leorio or ignoring his phone calls, that he was only interested in him.

Still, there was no way Kurapika was going to admit that. At least not before Leorio admitted his feelings first.

"Are you implying there's someone I like currently?" Kurapika asked boldly, daring Leorio to say what they both knew, while at the same time threatening him with a glare.

"Maybe I am. And maybe you should just ask out _that person_ instead of playing so many games,"

At Leorio's words it felt like a switch had gone off in Kurapika's head. _He_ should stop playing games? Oh, because Leorio hadn't recruited their best friend to sabotage his lie.

"Well, maybe _that person_ should stop being a complete Neanderthal and ask _me_ out," Kurapika snapped.

"Why should he?" Leorio asked too loudly, earning their third shush from the on duty librarian.

"Because _I'm_ growing tired of these games, and if he is too, then maybe he should do something about it," Kurapika reasoned.

"Do you even realize how stubborn you are? You're basically saying the same thing that I am!"

"Then I guess I'm as stubborn as he is!" Kurapika snapped.

"I could never be as stubborn as you! No one could be!" Leorio shouted.

Leorio's shout was the last one needed to summon the librarian to the side of their table.

"I think maybe your conversation would be better suited somewhere else. Anywhere else, really," the librarian, Mr. Satotz, suggested in a kind voice that didn't match his words.

Kurapika and Leorio gathered their things quickly and without argument, the way they always had when getting kicked out of the school library or the public library. They were never picky about which library they got kicked out of.

As they walked through the library door, Leorio was grumbling as Kurapika was smiling, a victory in sight that Leorio hadn't noticed yet.

"So much for not getting kicked out of the library so much this year, huh?" Leorio asked, looking down at Kurapika. It was then that he noticed the blond's small smile. "What's got you in such a good mood? Aren't you going to blame me for getting us kicked out?"

Kurapika hummed. "While, I do feel as though you're more at fault than I am, I would much rather concentrate on what you were saying before we got kicked out."

Leorio's eyebrows scrunched together as though he was trying to remember exactly what he had said. Luckily, that wasn't necessary. Kurapika remembered perfectly.

"You said that you could never be as stubborn as I was, but I believe it was perfectly clear that I was calling the person who likes me stubborn. Are you saying that's you?" Kurapika asked arrogantly.

Leorio froze, coming to a stop in the middle of the school hallway. It brought Kurapika more joy than he could have ever anticipated.

"I—we were talking about the person _you_ like," Leorio tried.

Kurapika wasn't having it.

"Yes, in the sense that they are one in the same, but _you_ are the one who admitted to it," Kurapika said, unwilling to budge.

Finally after staring at Kurapika for a long moment Leorio let out a loud curse that would have landed him a detention had a teacher been around to hear it.

"Ugh, I kept from being the one to confess for a year!" Leorio yelled, hands gripping his hair.

"Mm, it was admirable," Kurapika said, the smirk on his face transforming into a smile.

"Fine, damn it, you win," Leorio relented. "I like you. Go out with me Saturday, and stop being mad at me."

"All right," Kurapika agreed simply.

"All right?" Leorio asked, squinting at Kurapika with skepticism. "That's it? You're not going to make me beg? You're not going to _gloat_?"

"Oh, Leorio, we've been at this for a year, what's the point?" Kurapika asked before smirking in his direction. "Besides, the fact that it took me a year to get you to ask me out is more of an embarrassment than an accomplishment. I'd never gloat about it."

Leorio's facial features squeezed together in his anger, a look that Kurapika had always found ridiculous but at some point had also come to find endearing.

"You know, comments like that are why it took me a year to ask you to be my boyfriend," Leorio said, somehow mastering sounding irritated and hopeful. As if Kurapika would turn him down.

"But you did ask," Kurapika pointed out as he leaned against the wall, in no hurry to move since they were alone in the hallway, with all the students in class or at lunch. "And I did say yes."

Leorio smiled, a look of contentment on his face that was matched in the tone of his next words. "Just shut up and kiss me already."

Kurapika wasted no time in grabbing the collar of Leorio's button down shirt and pulling him down to kissing height. The kiss that followed was hot and eager, the kind of kiss that could only be expected after a year of unresolved sexual tension.

Things were so good.

"You know, the office supply room is empty. We could probably make out in there until lunch is over," Kurapika suggested.

"Fuck yes."

And they were only going to get better.


End file.
